IPOs: Squaring the circle
The story of small business lender Funding Circle’s IPO in October was in some ways a surprise – and in other ways entirely predictable. When the IPO was launched at the beginning of September there was feverish speculation that the...
Bank stability risk is higher than EBA’s stress tests suggest
The EBA’s stress tests don’t stack up – allow ECR to enlighten you The EU-wide stress tests for 2018, published by the European Banking Authority (EBA) early in November, are an attempt to assess the resilience of banks to a...
Frictionless payments threaten security for online merchants
According to a report by Paysafe, 52% of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the globe that operate online worry that the move to frictionless payments, such as transactions taking place via apps, is leaving them open to fraud and...
Macaskill on markets: 2019 will be the ‘year of the fee’
JANUARY SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son declares 2019 the “Year of the fee” and invites banks to an everlasting pitch. “Our goal is to be the number-one fee payer to banks in the world and also the universe,” says Son....
Quick read: European banks’ retail-shareholder divorce
COPYING AND DISTRIBUTING ARE PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER: CHUNT@EUROMONEY.COM By: Published on: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 Long years of losses and scandals, and now new regulation, spell a break-up with European banks’ bedrock of support in their retail...
Will the next housing crisis be climate-related?
Could the next housing crisis be climate-related? Quite possibly. This summer my partner and I tried to buy a house in the Catskills, New York. It was the end of June when we ran the inspection and no drought was...
Nigeria’s mixed signals on fintech
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s headquarters in Abuja Financial technology looked set to take off in Nigeria. Earlier this year, the country’s central bank and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System opened a regulatory sandbox to enable budding fintech companies to develop...
Goldman stock is on the ropes, but should it be below book?
Ouch. There will be those who are gleefully watching as Goldman Sachs’ stock gets pummelled on the back of the firm’s 1MDB woes. There will be others looking on more nervously, hardly daring to whisper “there but for the grace...
Is the Handelsbanken model under threat?
Svenska Handelsbanken is akin to a European Wells Fargo. Like its American equivalent, it is almost entirely focused on one country – Sweden – and very successfully, at least until recently. A cohesive workforce, consistent strategy and conservative risk attitude...
Russian state firms defy sanctions speculation with bond sales
For proponents of sanctions on Russia, November got off to a good start. In the first week of the month, two events apparently increased the likelihood of stricter penalties being imposed. First, the US State Department confirmed that the Kremlin...