Old Money
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Saudi Aramco’s jumbo IPO is taxiing towards take off, though the timing and any co-listing locations along with Riyadh have yet to be revealed. London and New York’s exchanges are eager to host a co-listing, with Toronto, Hong Kong and Singapore also in the frame for what promises to be the biggest ever IPO, valuing the company at $2tr. -
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At 7:30pm on September 16, 1992, or Black Wednesday, at the end of a frenzied day in the markets the UK chancellor of the exchequer Norman Lamont announced that Britain was leaving the Exchange Rate Mechanism of the European Monetary System. It was a critical change in policy direction from the path of monetary convergence with the Europe and the first Brexit.
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There’s plenty of arguing about Brexit, but in finance, euro clearing stands out as a particularly bitter regulatory fight. At issue is London’s place as the host of euro trading — and it’s going to go down to the wire.
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Banks are in the grip of an era of regulatory fines. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) estimates that since the 2008 financial crisis banks globally have paid $321bn in fines, an average of $40bn a year. Most have been levied by US banking agencies, with the EU claiming that it has levied 800% more in bank penalties than its 28 member states have added together. The record fine to date is the $13bn paid by JP Morgan in 2013 in settlement of mortgage backed securities (MBS) violations.
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Talk of a ‘21st Century Glass-Steagall’ is swirling around Washington and Wall Street. What this might mean in practice is hazy, but the phrase Glass-Steagall is plainly a powerful political talisman.
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Short sellers and their schemes have a murky past. From the Dutch East India Company to Borussia Dortmund.
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Once France broke international records for sovereign defaults, thanks to wars, money printing and dodgy liability management.
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Kaleidoscopic corporate restructurings have long been a feature at Credit Suisse. There appear to have been three drivers – geographical balance, shuffling the deck in its investment banking activities and a noted propensity for being accident prone.
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At 8:15pm on November 8, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi stunned the country by announcing in an unscheduled television broadcast that at midnight Rs500 ($7.50) and Rs1,000 ($15) banknotes would be “demonetised”.
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It’s a back-to-the-future new year for Barclays as it forges ahead with its strategic repositioning — the latest moves in what feel like decades-long twists and turns into and out of Africa and investment banking.
