Global news and insight for corporate financial professionals
THE NEW OIL RUSH By Michael Shari As the US inches closer to its elusive goal of energy independence, the economic ripple effect promises to leave no region or industry of the world untouched. Few would argue ...
SEISMIC SHIFT By Gordon Platt The emerging markets account for an ever-increasing percentage of global investable assets, and the demand for investors' services is growing commensurately. New domestic players are popping up, and global managers are partnering with ...
NEW GRAVITATIONAL PULL By Ryan Harrison As companies in the region expand globally, their treasury and trade processes are growing in sophistication. As a result, transaction banking is becoming an ever-more-important business driver for both regional and global ...
SEARCHING FOR THE SILVER LINING By Al Modugno The European sovereign debt crisis is causing rates to rise for trade credit insurance, and demand is increasing—particularly in emerging markets. Since the global financial crisis of 2007–2008,demand for ...
THREE COUNTRIES AT A CROSSROADS By Kim Iskyan Countries of the Caucasus have had very different fates since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Each is moving on a path toward economic stability and growth—albeit at very different ...
YIELDING STATE CONTROL By Arthur Clennam Breaking the monopoly of China's big banks is only an idea for now, but one that the government knows it cannot ignore. Premier Wen Jiabao, second-most-powerful member of China's standing committee ...
WAKE-UP CALL By Laurence Neville The expropriation of private assets in Argentina and Bolivia are a stark reminder of the risk of doing business in developing markets. Nationalization of the political sort—as opposed to pragmatism designed to ...
LANDMARK YEAR By Anita Hawser Last year was a landmark year for Islamic finance—innovative new products were launched and new markets opened up that few would have considered likely candidates just a few years ago. These trends ...
By Anita Hawser Algeria Banque Al Baraka D’Algérie Saudi-owned, Bahrain-based banking group Al Baraka first ventured into this North African country in the early 1990s. Being the first to offer Islamic banking in the country carries with it a ...
By Anita Hawser Best Sukuk Bank Maybank With Malaysia accounting for more than 70% of total global sukuk issued, Maybank spearheaded a number of major deals. For the period under review it recorded 23 deals made up of 133 ...
By Anita Hawser Gulf Cooperation Council Al Rajhi Bank Considered to be the Saudi Arabian kingdom’s biggest Islamic lender, Al Rajhi Bank matched that credential with one of the best performances among Saudi banks in terms of net profitability. ...
EMERGING MARKETS INVESTOR: NEWS By Gordon Platt The development of new frontier indexes in both the fixed-income and equity markets is making it easier for institutional investors to trade often risky and illiquid securities out of just-developing markets. ...
SABMILLER MAKES MORE AFFORDABLE LOCAL BEER By Antonio Guerrero The UK’s SABMiller, the world’s second-largest brewer, plans to invest up to $2.5 billion in Africa over the next five years to build new breweries and revamp existing ones to ...
FIRST IPO BY A BRAZILIAN INVESTMENT BANK By Antonio Guerrero BTG Pactual launched the first IPO by a Brazilian investment bank in April, with its $2 billion IPO on the São Paulo Stock Exchange and simultaneous depositary receipts listing ...
HSBC ISSUES FIRST RENMINBI BOND OUT OF LONDON By Thomas Clouse HSBC issued the first renminbi-denominated bond out of London in April. The RMB1 billion, ($160 million) three-year bond was launched from the bank’s syndication desk in London. ...
S&P, CITING POLICY PARALYSIS, CUTS INDIA’S RATINGS OUTLOOK By Aaron Chaze S&P cut India’s sovereign credit rating outlook to negative in April in response to growing paralysis in government policy. India’s rating remains at BBB-, the lowest investment-grade ...
SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS JUMP INTO THE MARKETS By Gordon Platt Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are once again dipping their toes in markets worldwide, even those that saw investments last year grow cold. Saudi power company launches landmark sukuk ...
FOREIGN AUTOMAKERS TAP RUSSIAN AUTO BOOM By Kim Iskyan French auto giant Renault-Nissan will control a majority stake in Russian automaker AvtoVAZ by 2014, under a deal signed in early May. Russian automakers open door to foreign investors ...
RETAILER EXPANDS IN NIGERIA By Gordon Platt Mr Price Group has developed a successful retail formula in South Africa that could work well in markets across Africa. The majority of Mr Price’s 1000-plus stores are in South Africa, ...
INSTABILITY AND FINANCE By Paula Green Global Finance sat down with noted author and international economist James K. Galbraith to hear his views on political instability, its relation to income inequality, and what the implications are for the ...
ENGINES OF GROWTH The world of corporate treasury is changing. Increasing international growth among developing-markets companies is causing a revolution in how companies manage cash and liquidity—and thus how banks market their transaction products and services. While global banks continue ...
BANKING ON BPOS By Paula L. Green Bank Payment Obligations could change the way that companies manage their global supply chains, making it easier and safer to work with new suppliers in risky markets. But acceptance takes time. ...
NOVEL SOLUTIONS By Paula L. Green E-invoicing is taking a quantum leap forward. New solutions help companies tackle age-old issues, such as how to stay compliant in an ever more complex regulatory landscape. Electronic invoices are helping ...
THE NEW ONE-STOP SHOP By Rebecca Brace Liquidity management is the latest corporate treasury process to get the one-stop-shop treatment by big banks and solution vendors. A few years have passed since the financial crisis propelled liquidity ...
BATTLING THE STATUS QUO By Justin Keay Although the government has pledged to improve the business clime, foreign investors remain skeptical that much-needed reform will happen—at least in the short term. Russia is in a state of ...
MILESTONES: GLOBAL By Valentina Pasquali Our level of preparedness is not always up to par with the challenges we may be suddenly confronted with. Still recovering from the Haiti earthquake Photo Credit : ARINDAMBANERJEE / Shutterstock.com This is a hard-learned ...
MILESTONES: DENMARK By Gordon Platt Moody’s Investors Service says something is rotten in Denmark’s mortgage industry. The country’s banks are still issuing interest-only loans, years after the real-estate bubble burst. Copenhagen still home to interest-free mortgages Meanwhile, Denmark’s household ...
MILESTONES: UNITED STATES / CHINA By Gordon Platt The Federal Reserve gave its seal of approval to China’s system of bank regulation and unanimously approved the first-ever takeover of a US retail bank by a state-owned Chinese bank. Photo ...
MILESTONES: MIDDLE EAST / US By Anita Hawser The ability of US bankruptcy law to handle shariah-compliant structures is being tested after Bahraini firm Arcapita Bank’s decision in March to file for bankruptcy protection in the US. Business ...
MILESTONES: GLOBAL By Paula Green Whether it’s that endless, dusty bus ride to the nearest automated teller machine or simple poverty that keeps them from opening a bank account, the 2.5 billion people who do not have accounts with ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: CORPORATE DEBT By Gordon Platt Houston pipeline company EP Energy sold $2.75 billion of debt in the high-yield private placement market to fund its buyout by a group of private equity firms led by Apollo Global ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: GLOBAL EQUITY / DRS By Gordon Platt Investor caution and market-specific issues, such as the presidential election in Russia, put a damper on equity capital raised in the form of depositary receipts in the first quarter ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: FOREIGN EXCHANGE By Gordon Platt The euro is likely to decline against the dollar in the medium term, due to political uncertainty in Europe and weak economic conditions, analysts say. “The eurozone debt crisis is ...
CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS By Gordon Platt Indonesia’s central bank said it will wait until new bank-ownership rules are in place to consider Singaporean banking outfit DBS Group’s $7.2 billion takeover bid for Bank Danamon Indonesia. Indonesia ...
NEWSMAKERS: SPAIN By Anita Hawser Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is probably glad he is not running for office at present. Tough task to sort out Spanish banks Photo Credit : MATTHI/ Shutterstock.com Having swept to power in elections ...
NEWSMAKERS: ITALY By Luca Ventura When Tuscan bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena appointed the charismatic Alessandro Profumo as its new chairman in late April, the news made headlines around the world. Profumo is ready for the challenge ...
NEWSMAKERS: FRANCE By Luca Ventura French president-elect François Hollande is a flag-bearer for adding growth incentives to a European fiscal agreement, rather than just doling out austerity measures. Hollande elated at defeating Sarkozy Photo Credit : SKPHOTOGRAPHY / Shutterstock.com ...
NEWSMAKERS: UNITED STATES By Gordon Platt As the tide went out for natural gas prices, it revealed that the seamy underbelly of the energy-trading business hasn’t changed a great deal since the days of Enron. McClendon ran a hedge ...
