Global news and insight for corporate financial professionals
Cover Story | Compliance
As the US has extended its regulatory reach beyond its own borders, other jurisdictions have followed its lead. Global corporations face an ever-growing burden in maintaining compliance with increasingly complex regulatory and reporting regimes. This is affecting their budgets, their structuring and also their strategy.
Regional Report | The Caucasus
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, the nations that make up the region of the Caucasus, are all working hard to improve their business and economic climates, but with varying degrees of success.
Country Report | Turkey - Islamic Finance
Officials in Turkey have long declared their intentions to transform Istanbul into an international financial center. Islamic finance could be the key to making that goal a reality.
Regional Report | Africa
Africa’s story is no longer that of a continent with great potential. Increasingly, the leaders and peoples of the continent, in collaboration with outsiders, are translating that potential into concrete achievements.
Country Report | Turkey
The country’s economy has stalled, just in time for a crucial parliamentary election.
The Age of the Internet of Things is in full swing—and manufacturing will never be the same.
Regional Report | Central & Eastern Europe
Although geopolitical risks are still keeping executives awake at night, there has been a remarkable turnaround in some countries of the region, thanks in large part to structural reforms—implemented early and strongly.
Frontier Markets Report | Oman
The sultanate’s proximity to the Gulf has long been an attraction. But with war in neighboring Yemen, its location could be a drawback.
FDI Update | FDI Magnet
Countries that dismantled protec-tionist policies are still attracting FDI, despite the commodities bust. Others aren’t doing so well.
Global Finance presents the winners of its 22nd annual awards for the World’s Best Banks.
Global Finance had a chance to interview Sim Tshabalala in April. The joint chief executive of Standard Bank Group answered questions about Africa’s growth and the substantial demand for banking services on the continent.
Global Finance sat down with Luiz Carlos Angelotti, MD and head of investor relations at Brazil’s Banco Bradesco, to discuss the bank’s bullish approach to investing despite the country’s economic downturn.
Profiling this years winners of the World's Best Banks across all regions.
Launched just three years ago, FCM Bank is the only bank in Malta to specialize solely in savings and fixed-term offerings. During a talk with Global Finance, chief operating officer Vincent Ma explained why FCM Bank has zeroed in on those two products.
In an interview with Global Finance, Andrew Géczy, ANZ’s CEO of international and institutional banking (IIB), talked about Asia’s remarkable growth—and why the region’s financial system will likely overtake the combined US and European markets by 2030.
Global Finance talked money laundering, Cuba and banking regulation with David Schwartz, president and CEO of the Florida International Bankers Association, a nonprofit representing financial institutions in the US, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.
Special Report | Supply Chain Risk Management
The treasury team is now critical to making supply chains more flexible while mitigating risks.
Special Report | Trade Finance Trends
A greater supply of capital and a dip in demand are strangling the trade finance business.
Special Report | The Caribbean
The Caribbean’s economies are expected to improve this year on the back of growth in tourism, but the economic climate remains frail with the drop in oil prices proving a mixed bag for countries in the region.
Milestones | United Kingdom
As Britons prepare for elections on May 7, the only certainty appears to be uncertainty, which looks set to continue until polling day—and maybe for some time after.
Milestones | France
The French government temporarily increased its stake in French carmaker Renault to nearly 20% ahead of the company’s annual general meeting in April.
Milestones | Singapore
During the state funeral cortege of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding prime minister, Singaporeans were urged to salute rather than take photos using their smartphones, a vivid reminder of the government’s preoccupation with political correctness.
Milestones | Iran
It may have taken 12 years to reach, but the framework agreement struck between the so-called P5+1 (Russia, China, France, Britain, and the US, plus Germany), the European Union and Iran has enough momentum, say analysts, to yield a full accord by June 30.
Newsmakers | Nicaragua
When Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega announced last December a plan to construct a controversial transoceanic waterway that would provide an alternative to the Panama Canal, he vowed the project would create jobs and bring prosperity to the hemisphere’s second-poorest nation.
Newsmakers | Nigeria
Nigeria’s presidential election proved the bookmakers both right and wrong.
Newsmakers | Israel
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s success among center-right political parties, which saw him recently elected for a fourth term, may have provided a stable political platform, but international pressure and recent social unrest could see the country change economic direction.
Infosys Strategic Vision
A company-wide Customer Relationship Management application gives investment banks an unrivaled view of clients.
Trends | Money Market Reform
Seven years have passed since investor panic during the financial crisis set off a run on money market funds. Since that time, the Securities and Exchange has adopted reforms aimed at reducing MMFs’ credit and interest rate risks and boosting their transparency.
Capital Markets | Mergers & Acquistions
Boutique investment banks are eating the lunch of Wall Street’s bulge-bracket firms.
Management | Hedging
The dramatic slide in oil prices over the past year or so has once again underscored the value—and perils—of hedging. Some companies and governments bet on a fall in the cost of crude and thereby obviated large losses. Others did not make out so well.
Capital Markets | Merger & Acquisitions: Biotech
The slew of M&A deals in the pharmaceutical industry could leave some firms with a bad hangover. Fitch Ratings warns that the race to find the next blockbuster drug could hurt overall credit rankings for the sector.
Capital Markets | Fixed Income
Hungary’s biggest financial scandal, which broke earlier this year, involved the alleged issuance of more than $500 million of phony bonds by Quaestor Financial Hrurira. The brokerage was one of three firms charged with fraud.
Trends | Islamic Finance
Islamic finance has seen tremendous growth over the past few decades.
Capital Markets | Private Equity
TVM Capital Healthcare Partners in late March became the first company to register a private equity fund under simplified rules implemented by the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC).
Capital Markets | Equity Capital Raising
Eureeca, the first global equity crowdfunding company, with offices in London and Dubai, received regulatory approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority to operate in Britain.
Management | Metrics
Corporations and analysts turn to scores of metrics—return on assets, working capital and others—to determine a company’s financial health. Another, the ratio of debt to internal funds, is one of the most widely used benchmarks. But a new study suggests that the debt-to-funds ratio isn’t all that accurate in predicting or explaining default risk.
