North America

Frontier Markets Report: Cuba
Obstacles and contradictions mar Cuba’s environment for foreign direct investment, but its market offers a wealth of opportunity.

Aaron Brickman, senior vice president for strategy and development at the Organization for International Investment (OFII), a nonprofit trade association, also founded SelectUSA, a federal program to promote foreign direct investment in the US. He visited Global Finance to discuss the state of FDI worldwide.

A squeeze on earnings and a rise in funding costs have persuaded many US companies to commit less cash to buying back their own shares this year.

US | When Microsoft bought LinkedIn, the deal was structured to leave the networking site to grow and develop somewhat independently. The question is, how independently? 

Capital Markets | Fixed Income
US companies are rushing to borrow in European bond markets. They’re taking advantage of low interest rates on euro-denominated issues after the European Central Bank’s decision to start buying investment-grade corporate bonds in June—part of its economic stimulus program. Last year already set a record for corporate borrowing in Europe’s bond markets, where rates are significantly lower than in the US.

Trends | Inversions
The US Treasury Department’s recent rules against corporate inversions are intended to stop “serial inverters.”

The US Treasury’s latest measure to keep US companies from reincorporating in lower-tax countries is its strongest effort yet to halt so-called “inversions,” and could have far-reaching consequences for multinationals.

US: At 42, he is a former banker, a former bailout czar and a former politician. He wants to persuade the public, from Wall Street to Main Street, that large banks pose a risk to the economic system. The risk is too high, he says, and must be eliminated—surely not a minor feat, not even for one of the presidents of the mighty Federal Reserve.

Newsmakers | United States
Edward Breen earned his reputation breaking up Tyco, so it’s no surprise that he’s hit the ground running since taking over at DuPont last October as interim CEO, a position made permanent a month later.

Management | Corporate Governance
Despite various initiatives to get more women into the executive pipeline, the number of US corporations with a female CEO remains stuck in the low double digits.

But big, national competitors can’t always offer the local touch and expertise that regional clients prize.

Monetary Policy | Capital Markets
Casting aside concerns about the strong dollar and weakness in economies abroad, the Federal Reserve achieved an historic interest rate liftoff in mid-December.

Puerto Rico
He has become the face of Puerto Rico’s woes, warning in media interview after interview of its inability to pay its bills and serving as the island’s bearer of bad financial news.

Canada
The Liberal Party representatives who will form Canada’s next government will field several key cabinet posts. Rookie MP Bill Morneau is taking one of the most coveted—minister of Finance.

Management | Corporate Boards
Led by investors such as Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman and Jeff Smith, and targeting companies from DuPont to PepsiCo, campaigns by activist investors have become a common occurrence in the United States in the past few decades.

Big oil companies waited for years to see if anyone could successfully tap into Arctic oil reserves.

United States: Former US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke lashed out at what he described as a do-nothing Congress in his new memoir, Courage to Act.

Global Finance interviews senior executives from some of the banks featured in this year’s World’s Safest Banks rankings.

USA: After years of talks, 12 Pacific Rim nations, from Vietnam to Peru to the United States, reached an agreement in early October to create a vast, new trade bloc called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Italy: Sergio Marchionne, the 63-year-old CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), is celebrated as the mastermind of one of the few successful mergers in the industry’s history, the marriage of Fiat and Chrysler.