Year of the SPAC? Opportunities and Risks in the Listings Boom In recent years, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have exploded in popularity and today, they account for a sizeable proportion of total IPO funding. Once viewed as a listing backdoor for weaker firms, they are now seen as an efficient and simplified vehicle
Rise of the Living Dead – Zombie Firms May Hold the Global Economy Back During the pandemic, governments in wealthy countries rolled out massive business support programs, which often took the form of soft loans to companies that suffered revenue losses during lockdowns. While these loans undoubtedly helped businesses survive a difficult year, many observers
Greening The Grid Is Sustainability Step One – But How? The decarbonization of the power grid is a core step in building a sustainable, climate-friendly economy. Indeed, US president Joe Biden has put having an emissions-free electricity sector by 2035 at the heart of his climate agenda. Emissions-free power is the foundation of
Banking In A Post-Pandemic World – What To Expect Banks had an unprecedented year in 2020. In a matter of months, they transformed into almost fully digital operations with remote workers delivering services from their homes. To support them, regulators eased capital requirements and provided liquidity, and banks were able to play a
Tough New Sustainability Rules Are Here – Is Your Company Ready? On March 10, 2021, the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) came into force. The SFDR – which forms part of the broader EU action plan for sustainable finance – is aimed at promoting disclosures related to sustainability issues. The overall goal is
Burned by GameStop: Lessons for Low-Cost Trading Platforms From “GameStonk” The rise and fall of GameStop dominated headlines in late January – an apparent David-and-Goliath story of small retail investors taking on hedge fund titans. As regulators and traders survey the fallout from the GameStop spike, however, a different story is emerging, with
Just What Is Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Anyway? Around the world, rich economies are facing a historically unprecedented set of problems, including aging populations, slow growth, low or negative interest rates, and deflation. This novel set of economic issues, which has emerged in country after country over the last few decades, demands novel
The EU’s Record-Breaking Social Bonds Issue & The Labeled Bond Market The European Union’s inaugural social bonds issue set a global demand record in October – the multi-billion-euro, two-part offer was nearly 14 times oversubscribed. Some observers hailed this success as a testament to the strength of the sustainable finance market, while others
Neobanks & PayTech Firms Struggle With Compliance & Service As Times Get Tough Digital challenger banks and PayTech firms have had a difficult year. The Wirecard accounting scandal and bankruptcy damaged investor appetite for this previously popular corner of FinTech and, as the pandemic-led recession has ravaged economies, customer complaints and compliance issues
Big Four Accounting Firms Enter The ESG Reporting Fray Companies’ attempts to transition to a more socially responsible, sustainable model have long been plagued by the challenge of measuring progress. With no universal reporting formats, businesses have struggled to monitor their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. There have been various attempts at
