July/August 2015

As analytics aimed at helping companies make use of all their data proliferate, companies worldwide are embracing these new technologies and finding ever-more-innovative ways to use them. Those that fail to do so risk being left on the sidelines.

Cover Story | Supplement
As data sharing becomes more common, individual privacy seems to be more luxury than norm. But corporations working with big-data analytics must pay attention to how many personal details they gather about their customers, lest they cross the invisible line of what is acceptable and what is not—and anger their client base.

Global Finance Honors a Japanese powerhouse and a Spanish superstar as Top Of Class for 2015.       

BBVA’s President and COO Carlo Torres Villa on the explosive growth of online banking and mobile banking.  

The role of subcustodian banks is becoming more rigorous in response to regulations that impose new fiduciary responsibilities and far greater liabilities on global custodians.

Global Finance presents the winners of its annual World’s Best Subcustodian awards.

Profiling the World's Best Subcustodians of 2015

Global Finance interviewed Derek Pattison, Scotiabank’s VP of wealth management, Bahamas, on the importance of responding to clients’ needs for any product, anywhere.  

In a conversation with Global Finance, Mark Kerns, head of investor services at Standard Bank, describes how booming interest in Africa, led by South Africa and Nigeria, is reshaping the continent’s capital markets. 

Global Finance talked with Peter Blair Henry, dean of New York University’s Stern School of Business, about the urgency of bold reform and global trade to help developing nations.

Country Report | Nigeria
Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, but the recent slump in oil prices has halved government revenues. The new Buhari government must now ensure the country’s economic roller coaster ride does not grind to a complete halt.

Country Report | Portugal
Portugal’s economy is booming. Exports are up and unemployment is down. Insufficient capital investment is the last tough nut to crack, and the government is attacking it with gusto—and significant tax reform.

Milestones | New Zealand
In June, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lowered its key cash interest rate a quarter of a percentage point to 3.25%, the first time the central bank has cut rates cut since 2011, citing a combination of deflationary pressure, plunging commodity prices and a slowdown in key export markets like China.

Milestones | Zimbabwe
The demonetization of the Zimbabwean dollar began in June and holders of the near worthless currency have until September 30 to exchange it for US dollars.

Milestones | Venezuela
Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, is being squeezed by low oil prices, and the government in Caracas is feeling the pain.

Milestones | Iceland
Nearly seven years after introducing controls on capital movements, Iceland is planning to ease restrictions it put in place when the collapse of its banking system brought the country to the brink of financial meltdown.

Newsmakers | Turkey
It has been said that ultimately all political careers end in failure, but until June 7, few observers were expecting this maxim to be true, quite yet, of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Newsmakers | Mexico
In June, Jaime Rodríguez Calderón became the first independent candidate to be elected a state governor in Mexico, winning office in Nuevo León.

Newsmakers | Ukraine
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have run high since late 2013, when Russia resisted Ukrainian efforts to move out of the Russian sphere of influence and toward the West.

Newsmakers | United States
An important C-suite reshuffle is taking place in the world of social networking sites, and it may offer a glimpse into the future of the industry as a whole.

Small businesses today no longer need to convince a bank to get a loan. They can very well convince an algorithm that will assess their credibility based on a diverse parameters rather than a conventional credit check.

Capital Markets | Debt
Jaws dropped in June, when scandal-plagued Petrobras, the Brazilian oil company, announced plans to come to market with a 100-year bond. Who in their right mind would lend $2.5 billion for a century to an emerging markets company that in April wrote off $17 billion in overvalued assets and billions more in bribes?

Capital Markets | Debt
Overstock.com, a Utah-based online retailer, issued the first digital corporate bond using blockchain technology—the same technology that supports cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Capital Markets | Foreign Exchange
The surging dollar, falling euro and plunging emerging-markets currencies had a record $32 billion negative impact on the earnings of companies in North America and Europe in the first quarter, according to Scottsdale, Arizona‒based FiREapps, which helps corporations measure and manage foreign exchange exposure.

Capital Markets | Debt/Equity
India’s banks—both private and state-run—have been given a powerful tool to deal with bad loans.

Trends | Crowdfunding
With traditional lenders facing stricter liquidity requirements as a result of the global financial crisis, crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly appealing source of financing for corporates.

Trends | Economy & Disease
In May, South Korea reported its first case of MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). The death toll had climbed to 24 as we went to press, making it the largest outbreak outside of Saudi Arabia, where the strain was first reported in 2012.

Management | Tax Policy
In an effort to clamp down on tax avoidance by multinationals, the European Commission has announced plans to revive a proposal to unify the corporate tax base across Europe.

Management | Corporate Governance
Japanese corporate culture, long considered one of the least shareholder-friendly among developed nations, may be softening up, with a little nudge from prime minister Shinzo Abe.