Goldman Sachs’ cash business could completely change the game
Boring, mundane, routine. These are all words that I’ve heard to describe dependable transaction services. Given the number of fintechs now encroaching on banks’ transaction businesses this is hardly true. Fintechs have been paving a new way for transaction services...
Russian retail lending growth sparks overheating fears
A sharp rise in retail lending in Russia over the last 18 months has raised fears that the sector could be heading for a second crisis in less than a decade. Growth in the segment came to a standstill in...
Seven options for Lebanon as economic crisis deepens
1. Default Lebanon needs to substantially reduce its gross public debt, which stands around $85 billion; with ongoing political and economic stagnation, it can neither grow nor inflate out of the problem. Restructuring is the only option. External debt is...
Japan – the view from the top: Kentaro Okuda, Nomura
It is widely held that Japan’s retail brokerage model is under great pressure – perhaps irredeemably broken. Nomura is the biggest name in the sector. It still has a peerless distribution network, but there is a nagging sense that it...
ESG: Putting your money where your mouth is
It is naive to point out that it is all about money, but in the case of international relations – and of business and investing – making the world a better place doesn’t trump a pay cheque. It seems impossible...
Libor transition: Surge pricing
Benchmark surge: the perfect storm When Euromoney was researching a feature in August on the market’s transition away from Libor, one portfolio manager was keen to impress upon us the importance of the fact that the US replacement rate (Sofr...
Why has Islamic finance stalled in Singapore?
Sultan Mosque in Singapore It is 14 years since Singapore’s then senior minister Goh Chok Tong announced the government’s intention to make the island state a hub for Islamic finance. The years since have seen a revamp of the regulatory...
FX: Brokers cannot afford an identity crisis
Aggregated pricing streams are preferable to single bank lines for most FX trading clients. Non-bank price-makers have become more influential during the past few years and for most clients a prime-of-prime (PoP) broker is the only way to get access...
Lurching high-yield spreads show a broken market
Euromoney spent the last month talking to the people running markets businesses at many of the world’s largest banks. It’s intriguing to learn what they are not particularly worried about – the threat from new technology, the prospect of disintermediation,...
Deutsche Bank-Commerzbank merger: Long live the kingmaker
So far, the 2019 edition of the merger between Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank is following the playbook. The sector is unprofitable in Germany, so a merger is the only thing that makes sense, but the sector is unprofitable, so a...