September 2012

DEMAND WHERE WILL IT COME FROM?   By Laurence Neville   The worldwide call for public, private and corporate debt reduction raises the question of where spending and demand will come from going forward. Particularly now, as emerging markets stars—such ...

By Adam Rombel   Country Winners: Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Banks   Country Winners: Best Consumer Internet Banks   World's Best Internet Banks Back To Main Article Best Internet Banks: Regional Subcategory Winners

By Adam Rombel   Regional Subcategory Winners: Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Banks   Regional Subcategory Winners: Best Consumer Internet Banks   World's Best Internet Banks Back To Main Article Best Internet Banks: Country Winners

ANNUAL SURVEY: TRAILBLAZERS   By Adam Rombel   In the first of a two-part series, Global Finance identifies the top online corporate and consumer banks by country and regionally by product and service category.   As it has annually for ...

CHANGING OF THE GUARD IN PROJECT FINANCE   By Gordon Platt   As public purse strings tighten, pension funds are the most promising source of long-term funding for infrastructure projects, according to an OECD report supported by Oliver Wyman.   ...

By Gordon Platt   FINANCIAL ADVISER: HSBC When Abu Dhabi needed a financial adviser for its latest seawater desalination and power project, Mirfa IWPP, it selected HSBC on their longstanding relationship and the bank’s reputation, without opening the contract to competitive ...

By Gordon Platt NORTH AMERICA FINANCIAL ADVISER: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group MUFG led the $585 million nonrecourse financing of the Wind Energy Transmission Texas project, and structured a $387 million construction loan for the Lone Star Transmission project, a 329-mile transmission ...

BRAZILIAN COURT GETS TOUGH ON DRILLERS   By Antonio Guerrero   Following a series of oil spills off the coast of Rio de Janeiro this year, a Brazilian court has ordered Chevron and driller Transocean to halt all drilling and ...

ZIMBABWE'S BANKS TOLD TO BOLSTER CAPITAL RESERVES   By Antonio Guerrero   With the goal of stabilizing the financial system in mind, Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank has boosted minimum capital requirements for banks by as much as 900%.   Zimbabwe’s banks ...

SLOWING ECONOMIC GROWTH FORCES LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO ACT   By Thomas Clouse   China's economy showed further signs of slowing in July, with exports expanding only slightly and industrial production falling to its lowest growth rate in three years.   Chinese ...

COCA-COLA AND IKEA STEP UP INVESTMENT IN INDIA, DESPITE SLOWING GROWTH   By Aaron Chaze   Ikea, the Swedish retailer, has applied to the Indian government for permission to open 25 stores across the country, investing $1.9 billion in the ...

GULF BONDS PROVIDE SHELTER FOR INVESTORS FROM CRISIS   By Gordon Platt   The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are enjoying enormous demand for their debt from global investors.   Sukuk, or Islamic bonds, are particularly popular, in part because ...

GOVERNMENT SOFTENS STANCE ON LEBEDEV PRISON TERM By Kim Iskyan A local court reduced the prison term of Platon Lebedev, the business partner of jailed former oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in what some analysts interpreted as a slight moderation of ...

FINDING BALANCE By Paula Green Global Finance sat down with Gary Gorton, professor of management and finance at the Yale School of Management, to get his perspective on the latest round of global financial turmoil. PHOTO CREDITS: KATE FREY Gary ...

RISK CONVERGENCE   Unsurprisingly, risk is a key theme for our Seventh Annual Treasury & Cash Management supplement.   'Hurry up and wait' has been the prevailing message from global markets, and treasurers are responding in myriad ways to the ...

WHO’S WHO   Global Finance’s annual list of Who’s Who in Treasury & Cash Management   Bank of America Merrill Lynch Paul Simpson Head of global transaction services   Paul Simpson joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in May 2011 and ...

DIRECTORY   Our annual listing of TCM service and solution providers   Banking Service Providers Bank of America Merrill Lynch CONTACT : Paul Simpson, Head of Global Transaction Services EMAIL : gcbkmarketing@bankofamerica.com www.corp.bankofamerica.com     ING CONTACT : Willem Dokkum, ...

EXPEDITING GROWTH   By Anita Hawser   Trade flows between Latin America and Asia are growing at a phenomenal pace. An increasing number and variety of banks and other agencies are providing liquidity and trade finance solutions to nurture these ...

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD   By Rebecca Brace   Corporates are hoarding record levels of cash, but with counterparty risk increasing in the banking sector, FDIC coverage changing and money market funds looking risky, where can they park their ...

GIVING DILIGENCE ITS DUE   By Karen Kroll   Companies are using outsourced service providers, bringing in experts, and making use of new technology solutions to stay compliant with the increasingly complex global regulations.   Despite some of the headlines ...

A NEW WORLD   By Kathryn Tully   Global Finance evaluates the Best of the Best Treasury & Cash Management Providers in The Winners’ Circle, an ongoing series launched as part of our 25 th anniversary in 2012.   Ever ...

TALK IS CHEAP   By Kathryn Tully   Companies with European operations are discussing SEPA, but so far they are not doing much.   The European Commission's announcement that February 1, 2014, is the deadline by which banks and corporates ...

RISKY VISION   By Rebecca Brace   Global Finance surveyed Who's Who honorees about the issues that keep them awake at night.   Risk was the overriding theme of the 2012 Global Finance Who's Who in Treasury & Cash Management ...

THE TIES THAT BIND   By Arthur Clennam   Economic forces are subtly improving prospects for Taiwanese companies seeking new markets in China.   An ancient folk story from Taiwan goes something like this: A frog lives for years in ...

MILESTONES: ASIA   By Thomas Clouse   The Association for Southeast Asian Nations celebrated its 45th anniversary in July in Jakarta, as conflicts over the organization's role in the region continued to create tension among its members and questions about ...

MILESTONES: CANADA   By Erik Heinrich   The takeover of Canadian stock market operator TMX Group by Maple Group, a consortium of financial institutions, was approved by TMX's shareholders, bringing to a close more than a year of sometimes acrimonious ...

MILESTONES: COLOMBIA   By Dan Keeler   Three months after its free-trade agreement with the United States went into effect, Colombia is already reaping the benefits, in terms of investment, export growth and job creation.   González, Proexport Colombia: Colombia's ...

MILESTONES: GLOBAL   By Paula Green   Corporate financial executives with cash to burn are turning up the heat on merger and acquisition activity in offshore financial locales around the globe.   M&A deals are on the rise in Mauritius The value ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: CORPORATE DEBT   By Gordon Platt   Community Health Systems, one of the largest hospital companies in the US, refinanced $2.8 billion of its high-yield debt in July and August, taking advantage of low interest rates and ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: GLOBAL EQUITY / DRS   By Gordon Platt   The global pipeline of initial public offerings has reached near-record levels, but IPO issuance and proceeds declined substantially in the second quarter of 2012.   Deal activity declined ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: FOREIGN EXCHANGE By Gordon Platt A favorable ruling by Germany's constitutional court on the legitimacy of the eurozone's permanent bailout fund, and coordinated easing by global central banks are both needed to ease concerns about Europe's debt ...

CORPORATE FINANCING NEWS: MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS   By Gordon Platt   Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, returned from his second official trip to China in February and announced that Beijing would lend two giant pandas, Er Shun and Ji Li, ...

NEWSMAKERS: EUROPE   By Valentina Pasquali   With the fate of the debt-ridden eurozone hanging in the balance, the German Federal Constitutional Court is expected to decide on September 12 whether the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the currency union's permanent ...

NEWSMAKERS: JAPAN   By Valentina Pasquali   After the insider-trading scandal that, in July, forced the resignation of both its chief executive officer and chief operating officer, Japan's largest financial conglomerate, Nomura, is gearing up for a new chapter in ...

NEWSMAKERS: UK   By Anita Hawser   The recent Libor scandal in British banking highlighted the power play that is going on behind the scenes as candidates vie for the governorship of the Bank of England when Mervyn King's second ...

NEWSMAKERS: INDIA   By Luca Ventura   Often labeled arrogant and brusque, India's finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, is not the most popular politician within his own Congress Party and not much in the public eye.   Chidambaram's new ministerial appointment ...

European Banking Crisis: Impact On Emerging Markets Economies Emerging markets economies’ outstanding debt held by EU banks as a % of their GDP. You will need javascript to view this feature. “EM countries that rely heavily on European banks to ...