November 2015

Some green shoots lurk beneath the region’s raging civil wars, economic woes and political unrest.

Global Finance held its annual Transaction Processing Awards ceremony in Singapore in October, during SWIFT’s annual Sibos conference. Leading financial executives from banks were present to accept their awards and honor other recipients.

With interest rates bottoming and the market jittery, treasurers are seeking more unconventional and versatile means for managing stockpiled war chests of liquidity.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Safest Global Banks 2015  | A Cut Above Safest Emerging Market Banks | The Sovereign Ceiling Central Banker Report Cards 2015 | Whatever Hapened To Inflation? | Grades By Region | Profiles By Region World's Best Banks | Best In ...

As the renminbi gains international acceptance, Chinese firms look further afield for growth.

LIMA, PERU, OCTOBER 10, 2015
Global Finance presented awards to the top banks in its annual Safest and Best Banks rankings at an awards ceremony, held in conjunction with the IMF/World Bank meetings.

Chinese banks receive high ratings, but many also fall below investment grade.

Thomas Gass, assistant secretary-general for policy coordination and interagency affairs in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations, talked with Global Finance about the UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals and how the private sector can help.

As volatile currencies toy with the bottom lines of global companies, corporate treasurers are paying a lot more attention to foreign exchange.

As volatile currencies toy with the bottom lines of global companies, corporate treasurers are paying a lot more attention to foreign exchange.

Innovation is bringing transparency and diversity to the FX market.

Cross Rates: An unprecedented wave of cross-border mergers and acquisitions is driving demand—and rates—for foreign currencies.           

FX markets move to ramp up self-regulation before politicians step in.

In the long run, a fully convertible renminbi will make things easier for global companies doing business in China. Shorter term, treasurers face hard choices.

Montenegro tries to keep the foreign direct investment environment as simple as possible. 

Big oil companies waited for years to see if anyone could successfully tap into Arctic oil reserves.

India seems to be on course with economic reforms under the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi, achieving a significant landmark as it moved ahead of the US and China in the foreign direct investment (FDI) sweepstakes.

Vietnam is emerging as one of the few bright spots among Southeast Asian economies buffeted by the slowdown in regional and global trade.

An analytical exercise that was moderately popular before the financial crisis has become a mandatory task in the post-crisis years.

United States: Former US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke lashed out at what he described as a do-nothing Congress in his new memoir, Courage to Act.

Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s education minister and former central bank managing director, was named the nation’s next Finance minister after a landslide election victory in September by the ruling People’s Action Party and prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Portugal: At the beginning of October, Portugal’s Pedro Passos Coelho became the first eurozone prime minister to survive a bailout program and win reelection.

USA: After years of talks, 12 Pacific Rim nations, from Vietnam to Peru to the United States, reached an agreement in early October to create a vast, new trade bloc called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Italy: Sergio Marchionne, the 63-year-old CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), is celebrated as the mastermind of one of the few successful mergers in the industry’s history, the marriage of Fiat and Chrysler.

Infosys discuss how utilities can help banks better compete in a more challenging economic and regulatory environment.

Management | Corporate Boards
Led by investors such as Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman and Jeff Smith, and targeting companies from DuPont to PepsiCo, campaigns by activist investors have become a common occurrence in the United States in the past few decades.

Capital Markets | Remedial Measures
The European Commission cites four concrete steps for kick-starting the Capital Market Union

Market Trends | FinTech
News that 13 additional banks have joined financial innovation firm R3’s distributed ledger initiative signifies the savings the banking sector believes blockchain technologies can deliver to the financial services sector.

Capital Markets | Banking Licenses
Saudi Arabia cracked open the door to direct investments in its stock market by qualified foreign institutions in June, when HSBC became the first foreign firm to receive a license.

Sovereign wealth funds have expanded dramatically in recent years. High commodity prices and large foreign exchange reserves have contributed to their significant growth in global markets.

Management | Auto Manufacturers
The Volkswagen emissions scandal, which saw the company fudge emissions tests to make its cars appear less polluting, has resulted in a new CEO appointment, the suspension of key executives and a proposed group restructure.

Capital Markets | Business Funding
In 1957, when the Treaty of Rome was signed and the European Economic Community was established, it was the first milestone in the long path toward free circulation of goods, capital, services and people among European countries.

Market Trends | Intellectual Property
A European patent regime with unitary effect and a Unitary Patent Court is set to come into force as early as 2017, making it simpler and cheaper for international corporations to defend their intellectual property rights.