As Payments Competition Heats Up, Big Tech Firms Run Into Regulatory Roadblocks Despite the efforts of some activists, the technology industry remains largely unregulated – able to do more or less what it likes with user data, and largely free from content restrictions. Recently, however, the world’s Big Tech firms have begun to
From Crisis To Opportunity: Central Banks Seize The COVID-19 Moment To Embrace Change Central banks worldwide are embracing extraordinary policies in a bid to stave off the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The US Federal Reserve has announced a dramatic shift in its monetary policy approach, for example, and the European
US Stocks Soar Amid Pandemic: When Will the Crash Hit? Despite the brutal economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and a recent correction, US stock markets appear ready to end the year in the black. This is an extraordinary performance at a time when the global economic outlook seems increasingly bleak and global
ESG Reporting Revolution – Firms Must Grapple With The Need For Real Numbers As socially responsible investing (SRI) became increasingly important to investors, many companies began to produce glossy annual sustainability reports. However, those reports often offered style over substance and a lack of widely accepted reporting standards meant that many companies were
As LIBOR Deadline Looms, Low SOFR Swap Volumes Threaten Efforts to Build Term Rates LIBOR, which serves as a reference rate for over $300 trillion of global financial contracts, is scheduled to be phased out by the end of next year. At that time, financial contracts will need to transition to new reference rates, with
The Great Switch – Negative Prices Are Forcing Traders To Change Their Derivatives Pricing Models Amid widespread economic uncertainty and increasingly volatile markets, derivatives traders have seen the prices of underlyings such as oil turn negative – a previously unimaginable scenario. Faced with negative prices, traditional derivatives pricing models, which assume positive prices, are no
Governments Are Borrowing At Record Rates, But Yields Remain Low (For Now) As governments around the world roll out enormous stimulus programs in a bid to resuscitate their pandemic-hit economies, government debt issuance has hit record levels. Yet, despite double-digit budget deficits around the world, yields on government debt remain low. Indeed, in some large
Combatting COVID-19: How Central Banks Are Responding To The Crisis Global central banks – namely the US Federal Reserve (Fed), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) – have responded with unprecedented intensity to the economic crisis that has followed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. They have rapidly
Winners And Losers As Market Volatility Returns In the years following the global financial crisis (GFC), market volatility remained relatively muted, generally moving within a narrow band. Supported by modest but steady economic growth and accommodative monetary policy, global stock markets experienced few pronounced ups and downs for most of the last decade. Then, in
Which Companies Will Pass the Coronavirus ESG Test? As the coronavirus ravages economies worldwide, companies are struggling to pay workers and keep the lights on. Declining economic activity has sent carbon emissions plummeting and unemployment soaring, and many businesses are now reliant on the government for working capital. Against this backdrop, many are questioning companies’
