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
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
As US Stock Markets Soar Despite Pandemic Fallout, Some Ask When The Crash Will Come 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
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
