Privacy fears slow spread of UK-style data-sharing to combat money laundering
European banks are ramping up spending on the fight against financial crime, after a wave of money-laundering scandals on the continent. However, industry insiders betray little optimism about the impact it will have on crime, let alone on banks’ reputations....
Mexico adds to LatAm bank gloom
Mexican banks have become the latest in Latin America to face a structural weakening in their operating environment. With investors in the region’s financial institutions still reeling from the fallout from the collapse of Argentine bank stocks, those who were...
ESG: Products need to walk the walk on sustainability metrics
In late August, news emerged that a $578 million socially responsible exchange-traded fund (ETF) managed by Vanguard Group contained shares in a range of non-socially responsible firms – including a gun manufacturer and a private prison operator. The shares were...
India: Assessing Arun Jaitley’s legacy
Arun Jaitley, the former finance minister of India The passing of Arun Jaitley, the former finance minister of India, offers a chance to assess his legacy. History will judge him to have overseen some of the most momentous financial moments...
Banks pass the pain of negative rates to their depositors
Jyske Bank announced on August 20 that it will begin charging affluent retail customers up to 60 basis points on deposits above DKK7.5 million ($1.12 million). Anders Dam,Jyske Bank More attention than usual has suddenly focused on the third largest...
Solar drives Fifth Third to add investment bankers
Conditions are proving attractive for regional investment banks in the US to build organically or through acquisitions – and sometimes via the middle ground of bringing in a team from another firm. The last few months have seen Capital One...
HSBC needs balance and guile in Hong Kong and China
It’s irresistible to join dots. It’s natural, and just a bit exhilarating, to see patterns, messages, truths. Observers of HSBC are seeing a lot of dots and are pondering how many of them to connect. Among them: the ousting of...
Country risk: China crisis puts Hong Kong on a higher risk trajectory
Hong Kong protests under the watchful eye of Beijing Long regarded for its macro-fiscal strengths, political stability and financial and trading links, Hong Kong is the 14th safest investor domain worldwide, according to Euromoney’s risk survey. The special administrative region...
Liquidity-hunting algos the next big thing in FX NDFs
How to tap liquidity in non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) has been exercising the minds of FX houses this year. In February, Goldman Sachs introduced a smart algo for accessing internal and external liquidity NDFs. Four months later, BNP Paribas went live...
Will Argentina’s economy do the dead cat bounce?
In June, this column predicted that default was inevitable, whoever won the coming presidential election. The foreign currency debt dynamics that had led to the IMF’s $56 billion rescue package had become a mortal weakness. That rising debt meant that...