Global news and insight for corporate financial professionals
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 ...
TURBULENT TIMES By Gordon Platt Ibrahim Dabdoub has been CEO of National Bank of Kuwait since 1983. Global Finance: What are the key risks over the next 5, 10 and 25 years? Ibrahim Dabdoub: As a banker, I ...
UNDERMINING THE CULT OF EQUITY By Jonathan Gregson As alternative investments become mainstream and returns diminish, the traditional bias toward equity investment is being challenged like never before. Even before globalization became a major theme, big investors had ...
DRIVE FOR DEMOCRACY By Gordon Platt Adel El-Labban, group CEO and managing director of Ahli United Bank, Bahrain, has had a major influence on Middle Eastern banking. Global Finance: The past 25 years in the Middle East have ...
CHANGE IS IN THE AIR By Jonathan Gregson The emergence of universal banks fueled the trend toward globalization over the past 25 years, but the recent crises have been their undoing. In the past 25 years major banks ...
Transformation By Justin Keay How things change. A list of the best business, economics and finance books compiled pre-crisis would probably have focused on up-and-coming Internet companies, how to make a fortune on the stock exchange, how to invest ...
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT By Udayan Gupta David Wilton is chief investment officer and manager, global private equity, at theWorld Bank's IFC, with responsibility for its investment program in emerging markets funds globally. He is a member of the Pension ...
THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT By Kathryn Tully For its anniversary issue, Global Finance crunched the numbers to come up with the institutions that have won our World's Best Bank awards most often over the past 16 years. Presenting The ...
THE HUMAN FACTOR IN ECONOMIC THEORY By Justin Keay Traditional economic theory has been challenged by recent market events in global financial markets, and that challenge has given rise to a new generation of economic soothsayers who are looking ...
MODERNIZATION By Justin Keay Back in 1987 the main recipients of foreign direct investment were developed markets, plus some of Asia's miracle economies. Emerging markets barely featured. Today Russia and Poland are in the top 25 along with India, ...
EVOLUTION By Laurence Neville Perhaps the defining characteristic of 2012—in contrast to 1987 when Global Finance launched—is the interconnectedness of the world. Globalization spreads ideas and connects markets Those in the US now have more in common with ...
THE SANDS OF TIME By Valentina Pasquali A look at how the fates have dealt with those firms that advertised in the October 1987 inaugural issue of Global Finance. AT&T was bought by SBC Communications Are your overseas ...
MECHANISMS OF GROWTH By Antonio Guerrero Twenty-five years ago, Goldman Sachs' Jim O'Neill was still more than a decade away from coining the acronym BRIC to identify the high-growth markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China—an event which signaled ...
A LETTER FROM KABUL By Valentina Pasquali The sense of anticipation is mounting in the Afghan capital of Kabul as the country gears up for a crucial double transition to take place in 2014. It is the ...
SEEKING MORE-INCLUSIVE GROWTH By Gordon Platt After strong economic growth in 2011, the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council are spreading the wealth by putting a priority on non-oil job creation and social welfare. Photo Credit ...
KUWAIT ORDERED TO PAY DOW CHEMICAL $2.16 BILLION By Gordon Platt Kuwait's state-run chemical company must pay the US's Dow Chemical $2.16 billion for wrongfully canceling a planned joint venture in December 2008, as the global economy was ...
NEW SHOPPING LIST By Justin Keay GCC sovereign wealth funds and banks are still selectively buying low-value assets in Europe, but higher-growth markets are increasingly on their radar. When the global financial crisis first hit back in ...
THE POWER OF ONE By Gordon Platt Thirty-one years have passed since the six Arab oil-producing countries of the Gulf formed an economic and strategic alliance, following the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. Known as the Gulf ...
REIGNING SUPREME By Kathryn Tully Global Finance evaluates the Best of the Best Subcustodians in The Winners' Circle: An ongoing look at the top awards winners over the magazine's 25-year history, launched as part of our 25th Anniversary ...
OMAN: CRAFTING A NEW FUTURE By Gordon Platt Keenly aware that its vital oil resources are dwindling, Oman has embarked on a major economic diversification program. Oman's economy has grown steadily in recent years, helped by rising ...