Governance, Regulation & Compliance

London’s financial sector is likely to lose business—but to whom, and how much? Other European nations are courting UK-based finance operations. 

To those who thought the UK Brexit vote would be the biggest surprise of 2016, the American voters sent an even bigger shock.

Political turmoil is roiling markets abroad and at home, yet observers say fundamentals should leave the country well-placed to draw FDI when sunshine returns.

According the World Bank Group’s Ease of Doing Business Index for 2017, a record-breaking 137 nations out of 190 have implemented key reforms to deregulate their economies.

Tim Sloan, new CEO of Wells Fargo, will likely close branches and seek growth online, but even that may not be enough to help the San Francisco-based bank change direction in the wake of its cross-selling scandal. 

Transfer pricing—price-setting for sales within a corporate family—for maximum returns takes on heightened risk as governments crack down on creative tax-avoidance maneuvers.

Central bank governors face the tough task of stimulating growth with monetary policy, which seems to have reached a natural limit. Only fiscal policy can set the stage for long-term expansion.  

US: Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan, an American pharmaceuticals company, finds herself at the center of one of the biggest pharma controversies in recent years: price-gouging.

The intensifying regulatory environment has led more law schools to offer executive education programs that focus on law, ethics and 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The year 2016 is set to break a record for withdrawn global M&A deals, with regulators scotching several high-profile mergers.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?