Israel sells $3 billion bond as regional tensions abate
Just days after a deadly airstrike on Iranian general Qassem Soleimani shook the markets, Israel sold a $3 billion Eurobond to investors who say that, despite early fears of an imminent escalation, regional flare-ups are just an everyday part of...
Wirecard: Philippines’ anti-money laundering chief explains the investigation
Can you bring me up to date with what you’ve established so far about how the Wirecard situation links to the Philippines? First, the statement from the governor [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Benjamin Diokno, also the AMLC chairman] that...
How Handelsbanken reclaimed its status as the post-crisis ideal
If any European lender has had a good 2020 so far, it’s Handelsbanken. Sweden’s second biggest bank was the ideal of a more cautious, consistent and focused business model after the 2008 and eurozone crises. Now, it’s back in vogue,...
Foreign exchange: Banks deal with volatility from home
Since the global financial crisis, most FX markets have enjoyed a decade of extremely low volatility. While there have been initiatives around regulatory compliance, the market has otherwise been quiet, with volatility touching all-time lows as recently as January, exacerbated...
Coronavirus crisis: China steps back from stimulus
At the height of the global financial crisis (GFC), China staved off recession by turning the dial on stimulus up to 11. This time around, with Western governments pledging trillions of dollars in state aid as coronavirus threatens to turn...
Coronavirus: Urgent need to adapt will push tech solutions in transaction banking
Lisa Robins, global head of transaction banking at Standard Chartered, vividly remembers the September 11 terror attacks on New York’s twin towers and what followed. At the time, Robins lived in New York and was working for JPMorgan. Thousands of...
Covid-19 shows the value to investors of alternative data
At the start of April, Exabel, an artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning platform for active asset managers, partnered with 1010data, an alternative data provider to the retail, consumer packaged goods and financial services industries, to develop their Covid-19 Impact...
Coronavirus: Dubai issues rare Dh1 billion sukuk
The government of Dubai has issued a sukuk for the first time in four years, proving that even amid historically low oil prices and a global pandemic, funding options remain for the Gulf’s sovereigns. Gulf countries are facing the perfect...
Coronavirus: The World Bank should care that the public does not understand its pandemic bonds
Pandemic bonds, and their cousins in the broader catastrophe bond sector, are peculiar animals. They are frequently complex, somewhat opaque, and they must wade through the mire of morbid possibility. But at heart they are insurance. Like most insurance policies,...
ECR survey results Q4 2019: Risk diminishes for Greece, Russia and Nigeria, but Argentina, Hong Kong and Turkey dive
There’s light at the end of the tunnel, but not all are on the right track The mean average global risk score improved from the third to fourth quarter as business confidence stabilized and political risks calmed, although it was...