Global news and insight for corporate financial professionals
Businesses, banks and governments are working together to create financing tools to fund the green revolution. By Paula L. Green Cajoled, prodded and pushed by presidents, regulators, legislators and international diplomats, multinationals are slowly realizing the time has ...
United Kingdom By Anita Hawser London calling: Investors’ faith in the UK is growing The largest investor in the UK remained the United States, which increased its investment by 30% on 2007-2008 levels. The US accounted for ...
GLOBAL By Gordon Platt Levy: Economic recovery will not happen soon Voting with their portfolios, investors are viewing the glass as half full, and their risk appetite is increasing. Confidence among global investors rose for the sixth straight ...
GLOBAL By Anita Hawser Abbey: Massive investment leaves door open for fraud With governments around the world doling out billions in stimulus packages or infrastructure projects to help revive flagging economies in the wake of the subprime crisis, ...
Swooning equity markets have added to the troubles facing many corporate pension plans and will only accelerate the move to defined contribution plans. By Anita Hawser For some time now observers have been warning of a looming pension crisis ...
EUROPE IN CRISIS Many of Europe’s former star economies are still struggling to find their feet after falling prey to the credit crunch. By Laurence Neville Emerging Europe is on the edge of a precipice. Already ...
AFRICA IN A SQUEEZE By Paula Green Africa faces an uncertain future as its key economies suffer multiple setbacks and the global slump threatens to constrict the flow of investment. By Paula L. Green Being ...
Infrastructure spending Policymakers are pouring money into infrastructure projects in an attempt to head off economic disaster. Cohen: When stability returns, infrastructure will be attractive. All aspects of infrastructure will be on the rise in 2009, as the United ...
SECTOR REPORT SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS A series of disastrous investments in Western banks and mounting pressure to invest locally is prompting a sea change in sovereign wealth funds’ investment attitudes. Dickinson: Some SWFs are facing pressure to diversify their ...
NEWS Actis, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets, has successfully raised $2.9 billion for investment in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This is one of the largest dedicated EM private equity funds closed in 2008. The ...
BANKING CRISIS FALLOUT Colossal losses by financial institutions have prompted calls for more-effective regulation. Refining the Basel banking rules might provide the answer. Global crisis: For the biggest names in banking there has been nowhere to hide from ...
AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic development is still constrained by a historic dearth of infrastructure investment. Private sector investors might be able to provide the hitherto missing link. Controversial development: Dams such as the Kariba on ...
GREEN FINANCE Despite the drumbeat of headlines about the troubled banking and finance industries, one area is coming up green. With global financial markets languishing in the doldrums, “green financing” is emerging as a key lever ...
CARIBBEAN FINANCE CENTERS Recent changes are helping the venerable finance centers of the Caribbean stave off increasingly intense international competition. Partly in response to the US-led assault on their opaque banking systems and propensity ...
LESSONS FROM EUROPE Corporate comprehension of the benefits of going green is far more advanced in Europe than in the US. But America’s businesses could easily catch up. Stark differences: Europe and the US have taken very different ...
ANNUAL SURVEY The past 12 months have been some of the most difficult ever for investment banks, but many institutions continue to provide outstanding services to their clients. Investment banks are still writing ...
CHANGING INVESTMENT STRATEGIES CORPORATE TOOLBOX / SHORT-TERM INVESTING Credit market turmoil has forced corporate treasurers to re-evaluate their investment strategies. They are scrutinizing short-term investments for their strength and creditworthiness and demanding much greater information from the banks with whom ...
CENTRAL BANKERS PERSPECTIVES Central bankers deserve much of the credit for the financial world’s ability to ride out tumultuous market conditions. Global Finance asked the central bankers who were awarded “A” grades in our recent central banker report ...
A NEW DAWN “O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in’t!” —William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act V, Scene I. From the ...
SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS With sovereign wealth funds rapidly becoming one of the most powerful forces in global finance, one key question has emerged: Should they be feared or revered? With the subprime-induced credit crunch causing stocks of financial giants such ...