Global news and insight for corporate financial professionals
WILL JAPAN REGAIN ITS GREATNESS? By Michael Shari Business is trying to resurrect Asia's economic miracle a year and a half after the Tohoku tragedy. Tokyo is enjoying a long-deserved renaissance. Young professionals are converging from all ...
SEEKING MORE-INCLUSIVE GROWTH By Gordon Platt After strong economic growth in 2011, the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council are spreading the wealth by putting a priority on non-oil job creation and social welfare. Photo Credit ...
A NEW REALITY By Al Modugno Corporate liability risk is increasing as jurisdictions around the world adopt liability laws that mimic the stringent framework in the US. Just over two decades ago, the European Commission began the ...
OMAN: CRAFTING A NEW FUTURE By Gordon Platt Keenly aware that its vital oil resources are dwindling, Oman has embarked on a major economic diversification program. Oman's economy has grown steadily in recent years, helped by rising ...
NEW SHOPPING LIST By Justin Keay GCC sovereign wealth funds and banks are still selectively buying low-value assets in Europe, but higher-growth markets are increasingly on their radar. When the global financial crisis first hit back in ...
THE POWER OF ONE By Gordon Platt Thirty-one years have passed since the six Arab oil-producing countries of the Gulf formed an economic and strategic alliance, following the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. Known as the Gulf ...
A LETTER FROM KABUL By Valentina Pasquali The sense of anticipation is mounting in the Afghan capital of Kabul as the country gears up for a crucial double transition to take place in 2014. It is the ...
BUILDING BLOCKS By Anita Hawser and Paula Green The winners of this year's awards come from a wide array of bank and nonbank backgrounds. They offer unique financing solutions and are helping buyers and suppliers connect as ...
NEW HORIZONS By Gordon Platt With every new regulation that hits global trust and custody banks, a new service is born for subcustodians. Keeping up is expensive and challenging, but nonetheless it is a good time to be ...
By Anita Hawser and Paula Green BEST SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE PROVIDER—BANK Citi With trade and supplier finance capabilities in more than 80 countries, few providers can match Citi's extensive geographical footprint. It provides different forms of supplier finance (receivables ...
By Anita Hawser NORTH AMERICA Citi Citi is the leading provider of export-credit-agency–backed transactions, and in 2011 in conjunction with the US Export-Import Bank it launched its second ECA–guaranteed supply chain financing with participation of up to $1 billion ...
LEADING THE PACK By Kathryn Tully Global Finance evaluates the Best of the Best Supply Chain Finance Providers in The Winners' Circle: an ongoing look at the top awards winners over the magazine's 25-year history, launched as part ...
REIGNING SUPREME By Kathryn Tully Global Finance evaluates the Best of the Best Subcustodians in The Winners' Circle: An ongoing look at the top awards winners over the magazine's 25-year history, launched as part of our 25th Anniversary ...
By Gordon Platt NORTH AMERICA Citi Lee Waite, global head of direct custody and clearing, Citi Citi's Global Transaction Services division has the largest proprietary custody network in the world, covering 61 markets and 98.5% of global market capitalization. Lee ...
FEELING THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC CONTAGION By Antonio Guerrero The Africa Finance Corp, a multilateral finance institution based in Nigeria, says it has a pipeline of sub-Saharan investment projects worth $3 billion over the next year. The AFC ...
TIME-OUT FOR BRAZIL'S GROWTH BOOM By Antonio Guerrero Brazil's growth explosion could be ending. The Brazilian central bank in June cut the official growth target from 3.5% to 2.5% for 2012, after first-quarter GDP expansion was a meager ...
CHINESE EXPORTS DEFY EXPECTATIONS By Thomas Clouse China has given its banks more freedom to determine their own interest rates by declaring in June that banks could offer lenders rates as low as 80% of the official rate ...
GOVERNMENT TO SELL OFF STAKES, REDUCE DEFICIT By Aaron Chaze The administration announced renewed efforts to sell stakes in government-run companies in order to reduce the fiscal deficit. It plans to raise INR300 billion ($5.4 billion) by ...
KUWAIT ORDERED TO PAY DOW CHEMICAL $2.16 BILLION By Gordon Platt Kuwait's state-run chemical company must pay the US's Dow Chemical $2.16 billion for wrongfully canceling a planned joint venture in December 2008, as the global economy was ...
PRIVATIZATION PLAN COULD STUMBLE BEFORE LEAVING THE GATE By Kim Iskyan In early June, Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, agreed to buy DenizBank of Turkey from French-Belgian lender Dexia, for $3.5 billion. The deal marked Sberbank's second-largest transaction in recent ...
NO MORE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIPS By Paula Green Global Finance sat down with Jan Stuart, managing director, head of energy commodity research, fixed income, at Credit Suisse in New York, to get his perspective on the global economy and ...
TIME FOR CHANGE By Antonio Guerrero Nigeria holds great promise with its massive oil reserves, but endemic corruption, unfettered militant attacks on pipelines and lack of regulatory clarity could halt progress in its tracks. When the Nigerian ...
PRIME TARGET By Vanessa Drucker Portugal is being held up as a model of reform in meeting its fiscal restructuring targets, but it faces a drag on growth from financial sector deleveraging. Meanwhile, Portuguese firms have become prime ...
MILESTONES: GLOBAL By Valentina Pasquali Companies worldwide are making big changes to their reporting processes—seeking relief from the high costs associated with missed regulatory deadlines and poor-quality data. They are investing more and more in their financial ...
MILESTONES: GLOBAL By Joel Kranc With Spanish banks accepting bailouts to shore up their balance sheets and the eurozone crisis showing no signs of abating, global firms are looking for alternative financing options to maintain liquidity buffers. ...
MILESTONES: UNITED STATES By Paula Green US tech firms, including Google And Twitter, are taking advantage of a new model for accounting and tax services. A stripped-down, low-cost solution is gaining in popularity among Silicon Valley tech ...
MILESTONES: GLOBAL By Paula Green For bankers or traders keen to know the latest trends in the world of trade finance, the 2012 edition of the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) Global Survey on Trade Finance offers some ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: CORPORATE DEBT By Gordon Platt Inmet Mining, a global mining company based in Toronto, placed $1.5 billion of senior notes in the US high-yield debt market to fund a copper-mining project in Panama, in which ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: FOREIGN EXCHANGE By Gordon Platt The European debt crisis remains the key focus of foreign exchange market participants, as the slowdown in the global economy increases pressure on central banks and government officials to take ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS By Gordon Platt Japanese trading company Marubeni placed a large bet that China's demand for imported corn will continue to grow. Marubeni will buy US grain merchant Gavilon for $5.6 billion, including $2 ...
STRONG IPO FOR MALAYSIA'S FELDA By Gordon Platt Malaysian palm-oil producer Felda Global Ventures priced its $3.1 billion initial public offering near the top of its indicative range on June 13, amid strong demand from investors, who are ...
NEWSMAKERS: RUSSIA By Kim Iskyan Mikhail Fridman has overcome a lot of hurdles since his humble beginnings as a window-cleaning entrepreneur in Russia, just as the Soviet Union was unraveling. Fridman faces his most difficult maneuver yet ...
NEWSMAKERS: UNITED STATES By Luca Ventura Sheila Bair is determined to turn up the heat on regulators and accelerate financial reforms. Bair: protecting the US economy from the next crisis Photo Credit : ALBERT H. TEICH/ Shutterstock.com ...
NEWSMAKERS: ZIMBABWE By Valentina Pasquali After targeting the lucrative mining sector, Zimbabwe's indigenization minister Saviour Kasukuwere is now ramping up pressure on foreign banks operating in the country to hand over 51% of their shareholdings to indigenous Zimbabweans as ...
NEWSMAKERS: SPAIN By Vanessa Drucker The government of Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy revealed its character in early June, when it appointed Luis María Linde to become chief of the country's central bank and help restore its reputation. ...
BUYING STABILITY Break-even Brent oil prices ($ per barrel): the price that must be maintained for oil revenues to equilibrate annual budgets in oil-producing countries. "Oil-producing countries face rising expenses due to higher social pressure in the aftermath of the ...
