Reasons to be fearful: bank second-quarter results
With the second quarter of 2020 drawing to a close and all the new alternative data footfall trackers showing economic activity picking up in the US and Europe, investors are starting to look forward to the undoubted highlight of their...
Macaskill on markets: Deutsche Bank veterans at SoftBank give Germany Inc another kick with Wirecard trade
An unusual investment in stricken German digital payments firm Wirecard that was structured last year by executives at SoftBank’s Vision Fund helped the company to fend off doubts about its viability for over 12 months, until an apparent €1.9 billion...
Payments fraudsters spy Covid-19 opportunity in strained supply chains
In March, Interpol revealed details of a criminal scheme involving compromised emails, advance-payment fraud and money laundering across Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. The case involved two sales companies in Zurich and Hamburg, contracted by German health authorities to procure...
Did Germany’s KfW support scheme fail?
Despite offering twice as much liquidity to corporates as everyone else, Germany has extended fewer state-backed coronavirus emergency loans than any other big economy in Europe. France, Spain, the UK and Italy are ahead of it in this regard. Indeed,...
Supply chain finance: Digital freight forwarding is on the move
The potential of services that combine trade finance and freight services has been understood for some time. In a 2018 report, Boston Consulting Group estimated venture capitalists had poured more than $3.3 billion into digital shipping and logistics start-ups between...
Wirecard: a transparent opportunity for the Philippines
One of the stranger elements of the Wirecard scandal has been the involvement – or, apparently, lack of involvement – of the Philippines in handling much of the troubled payment processor’s disputed funds. It’s tempting to think that this is...
Zut alors! SocGen may face bigger equity derivatives challenges than peers
Selling volatility is a dangerous game. Having a little of it around is a good thing, to encourage clients to buy the stuff that your structured equity division churns out. Too much of it, however, and the hedges that sit...
Country risk: Côte d’Ivoire is down but not out
Euromoney’s Q1 2020 global risk survey saw many countries downgraded, as analysts rapidly digested the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Countries falling sharply through the global risk rankings included Lebanon, Liberia, Argentina, Mali and, more surprisingly perhaps, Côte d’Ivoire, a...
How can banks balance stakeholders and Covid-19?
For banks, the potential conflict between local community loyalty and the interests of both prudential supervisors and international investors is not new. But, especially in Europe, the coronavirus crisis is making it an urgent question once again. Banks need to...
Planet of the Humans: Beware the environmental capitalists
Earth Day came and went largely indoors this year for much of the planet, with the television providing re-runs of anything by David Attenborough to inspire us to look after our environment. Or there was Jeff Gibbs’ ‘Planet of the...