Governance, Regulation & Compliance

UK-based Barclays has reduced its shareholding in Johannesburg-listed Barclays Africa from 62.3% to 50.1% this year and is believed to be seeking to reduce that stake further to around 20%.

Study says income and wealth inequality, which have widened a lot in the past 30 years in the US and elsewhere, make recessions more severe because poor people, who have little or no savings and often flawed credit, sharply reduce consumption when facing a sudden drop in income.

Although Liam Fox made headlines for saying British businessmen are too lazy to boost exports, less extensively reported remarks by the UK’s international trade secretary hint at a significant change in policy.

In potentially the biggest foreign corporate takeover ever by a German company, Bayer seeks to buy Monsanto for 62 billion. Werner Bauman gets into agribusiness.

The year 2016 is set to break a record for withdrawn global M&A deals, with regulators scotching several high-profile mergers. 

Global Finance takes the world’s central bank governors to school in our annual “report cards” grading their economic stewardship.

Editor's letter: The annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are an ideal time to look at the work of central bankers. 

The EU hit Apple with a tax bill, but it's not the only company in regulators' sights. McDonalds, Facebook, Google and Amazon are being called on the carpet about tax practices too.

BREXIT FALLOUT  | Britain’s vote to leave the European Union sent shock waves through global capital markets, but the increased volatility lifted trading revenue at big global banks and created a significant number of winners alongside the losers.

Singapore | The Monetary Authority of Singapore is establishing a new team to bolster monitoring of financial institutions and enforcement of rules against money laundering.  

Compliance | Know Your Customer obligations on corporate treasuries and their banking partners are rising. Can financial utilities alleviate the risk and cost?   

Regulations | Compliance in a shifting regulatory environment requires nimble responses. 

Highly compensated Israeli bank executives feel harried by a new law placing limits on their salaries.  

Paul Fleming, executive vice president and global head of securities finance at State Street, sees securities lenders experimenting to meet the cost of complying with Basel III. banking rules.

After 17 years of construction, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, connecting Northern and Southern Europe through the Alps, opened to great fanfare on June 1, and shone a light on years of lax investment in infrastructure by European nations generally. 

Peru | Even though Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was elected Peru’s new president by a whisker, his victory was greeted with enthusiasm at home and abroad.

China’s recent efforts to make it easier for global investors to access its enormous stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen were not enough to persuade MSCI to include these “China A shares” in its widely followed Emerging Markets Index just yet.

Samir Pandiri, executive vice president and CEO of asset servicing at BNY Mellon, explains how regulations and demand for seamless products are driving innovation.

Striving to shake its oil dependence, Kuwait is opening up to foreign ownership. Will investors bite?

European Union regulation will likely spark a talent war for data protection officers -- and lead to a shortage.