March 2021

With a major new trade deal, favorable demographics and relative success managing the pandemic, Asia is fast assuming global leadership. Has the “Asian Century” just begun?

Tokyo is reviving ambitions to be Asia’s top global financial hub. Many factors, including the country’s fully diversified economy and high level of household savings, favor the effort. But will it work this time around?

Governor Yuriko Koike discusses plans, progress and potential hurdles in Tokyo’s efforts to reclaim the mantle of a top world financial center for the 21st century.

Stuart Wood, a founding partner of design agency Missouri Creative in London, points to Asia’s rising cultural influence—from K-pop to TikTok—as a soft yet powerful facet of its 21st century leadership.

Through the pandemic, private bankers found their advice more valued than ever.

For Global Finance’s top TCM banks, navigating the Covid crisis means AI, innovation, better FX functionality and real-time for virtually everything.

Global Finance’s best TCM suppliers in systems and services are focusing on niches and building more AI into offerings.

Trade and technology advances are helping African banks and corporates weather the pandemic.

APIs are speeding up banks’ ability to deliver the modern data tools that finance executives want.

E-banking, blockchain solutions and electronic signatures are some of the new and improved services that banks hope will strengthen bonds with their beleaguered clients.

Regional banks are betting cash management digitalization and better cash-flow forecasting will give clients an edge post-pandemic.

Top Middle Eastern banks are streamlining corporate services and scrambling to meet rising demand for self-service solutions.

Leaps in digitalization and automation, plus critical macro insights, are helping banks pull North American businesses through the Covid-19 crisis.

Regional banks are innovating and partnering with fintechs to help their clients survive the pandemic—and make the treasurer’s job easier going forward.

Likhit Wagle, general manager of Global Banking & Financial Markets at IBM, speaks to Global Finance about the industry urgency to digitize and counter the threat from Big Tech.

Erdoğan’s government hopes a more disciplined monetary policy will restore investor confidence and bolster an economic recovery in 2021.

India joins China, Russia, and the U.S. in offering the world its own Covid-19 vaccine.

London’s loss of the crown as Europe’s top trading hub is only the latest in a year-long string of bad news for the UK.

China surges past the U.S. as the top destination for foreign direct investment.

The world is watching to see if Australia succeeds in making Big Tech pay publishers for the content they profit from.

Cash-burning industries are using their most valuable assets to secure liquidity during the pandemic. Yield-hungry investors are happy to oblige.

The fallout from the Juukan Gorge scandal has put executives at other mining companies on alert.

Former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi becomes Prime Minister of Italy.

Andrea Orcel’s first major decision is likely to be the takeover of one of the country’s most troubled banks, state-owned Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

The World Trade Organization gets its first woman and first African leader.

Big businesses are getting serious about creating diverse boardrooms.

Respondents to the survey believe that robots are necessary for activities such as approvals, budgets and forecasts, reporting, compliance and risk management. 

Banks reward corporations that are serious about ESG.

The country is home to major blockchain companies including the Ethereum Foundation, Polkadot, Cardano and Libra.

Cryptocurrencies are becoming integrated into the world payments system.

Ecobank gains access to global capital markets just as Africa's economic recovery from the pandemic is about to begin.

Corporate and investor sentiment toward Bitcoin was already on the upswing before Tesla’s purchase of the cryptocurrency. 

Citibank's new CEO has a lot on her plate.

French neobank Nickel partners with smokeshops instead of building a traditional network of brick-and-mortar branches.

The Covid crisis is hastening banks’ adjustment to digital. But knowing a financial client is not the same as knowing a subscriber’s TV preferences.

One of the strongest economies in Asia, Taiwan did relatively well in 2020, both economically and in handling the pandemic. The strength of its tech sector represents both an opportunity and a challenge for the near future, as do potential global and regional trade developments. Leaders from the Central Bank of Taiwan and five banks active on the island took up these topics and more in a recent Global Finance roundtable.

After relative success containing Covid-19, Oman looks to gas production and new revenue sources to cure its budget headaches.

With tourism struggling and fiscal troubles looming, Central America and the Caribbean see commodities and tech as economic lifelines.

Struggling to control Covid-19 and obtain vaccines, Latin American governments are hoping commodities exports will pull them through.