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
Sustainable Investing: 3 Primary Drivers for ESG Investments The practice of ESG investing began in the 1960s when investors chose to exclude stocks or entire industries from their portfolios based on business activities such as tobacco production. Today, it is growing fast both among institutional and retail investors that prioritize ethical considerations and alignment with
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 Central
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
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
eLearning Effectiveness for Finance Disruptions such as the rise of FinTech along with the dramatic shift toward virtual environments as a result of the coronavirus are driving the importance of continuous learning and skill (re)development. To deal with these disruptive forces, finance organizations must ensure their workforce is adaptable to changes in the industry. By
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 deployed
