Economies braced for bumpy ride
A year ago, it all seemed so much simpler. Following a bumper year in 2006, most economists were looking for a continuation of the good times into last year. Some talked about worries over the health of the US economy, but the expectation was that any downturn would be short-lived. Sub-prime may have been on […]
Selling England by the pound
When I started in the City of London, the UK was entering a terrible period. Sterling was in free fall and the IMF were being called in by the then Prime Minister James Callaghan. His nemesis came in the form of Margret Thatcher who boldly stood on the election platform in 1979, tearing a Pound […]
Forex, the new futures?
1995 represented a major turning point in the financial markets. The futures markets ruled supreme with the tail wagging the dog in the underlying cash markets. Few saw the significance of 1995 though, as it marked the introduction of Windows 95 and Internet Explorer. However, the real change came in 2000 when DSL lines became […]
Banks’ losses fail to dampen bonus season goodwill
If large banks had suffered losses, it seemed logical that their highly-paid employees would share the pain. The reality is likely to be more complicated. Though several institutions have not yet reported their results, it increasingly looks as if the bonus pot shared between employees of the world’s largest investment banks will be larger than […]
Custodians juggle challenges of risk and reward
Custodians have a love/hate relationship with risk. On the one hand, they are wary of using their balance sheets for client financing, a reluctance that has helped investment banks make headway in the administration business. At the same time, custodians are interested in administering highly complex investment portfolios and products, many of which carry a […]
PLUS prepared for bear
Is it or isn’t it a bear market? Perhaps that’s not the question, but rather whether a young, new stock exchange in London like PLUS Markets Group can survive the volatility that’s been seen in the stock markets in the past few months. Ask these questions to PLUS’s director of business development Nemone Wynn-Evans, however, […]
A Saxo Bank WLP approach
As banks and financial institutions wake up to the growing potential of the online trading market, they continue to look for the technological solutions for gaining reliable, fast access to the sector. However, developing a workable, tried and tested platform for online trading is neither a cheap, straightforward nor timely exercise – and it was […]
Showcasing Caribbean investment opportunities
The Ministry (MTI), Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) and RBTT Bank Limited have joined forces to sponsor the event, which is the flagship inward trade mission of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA buy generic levitra online ). TIC 2008 takes place from April 30 to May 3, 2008. It is the […]
Global risk
With a painful credit crunch, a growing regulatory burden, and a worryingly unstable geopolitical climate, business leaders have got plenty of issues to worry about, never mind what’s going on inside their own organisations. So what are the risks keeping leading business people awake at night? A new survey from Ernst & Young and think […]
Absorbing the shock
Just how much damage could a downturn in the US inflict on the world economy? Doom-mongers say the outlook is grim. But a more upbeat assessment from the World Bank suggests that the developing markets might ride to the rescue, with their healthy growth providing a timely shock-absorber to developed-world economic woe. Spurred on by […]
