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The new capital standards being developed by international financial institution regulators will have a big impact on bank efficiency and the competitiveness. Some banks have estimated that the rules will [...]

With interest rates and inflation at their lowest levels for years and low-margin stakeholder pensions on the horizon, investors and IFAs are looking for alternative vehicles for savings and investments […]

Not long ago a mounting budget deficit and bribery scandal that threatened the stability of Argentina's coalition government would have spooked investors in U.S. companies that lend there. But the [...]

Historically low yields on US Treasuries are encouraging new investors into emerging markets, including those of emerging Europe reports Helen Davidson. Improving economic fundamentals and better credit ratings are another [...]

Concern is growing that promises of more IMF dialogue with the private sector may be difficult to meet One of the first things that Horst Kohler did after taking up [...]

Bermuda has among the most up-to-date and far-reaching trust legislation in the world, Bermuda Trust Law is kept under constant revision through the Trust and Practice Committee of the Bermuda [...]

Barbados is well-placed to be one of the leading low-tax jurisdictions of the future, With the winds of change continuing to blow throughout the offshore world, the trust and private [...]

Global financial services companies are using widely diverse strategies to meet the eB2B (business to business) challenge, consultants Arthur Andersen conclude in a report on a new global research study. [...]

The publication of the FSF offshore category list has left many offshore centres baffled, After several years of negotiations and political jostling behind closed doors, the crux of why major [...]

Julie Henderson rounds up the inside info on those countries which make up the international CFP. While the aim of the International CFP Council is to work as a collective [...]

U.S. insurance groups are pleased that the European Union will continue its policy of not enforcing an EU Directive on privacy in electronic data transmission while discussions continue on what [...]

Latest news from the region * China China plans to reduce the number of its trust companies to 90 from 240 this year to clean up the industry ahead of […]

If investment managers have any regrets about the last 20 years, foremost may be that they will never experience another period like it. Unless, as some are hoping, the next [...]

Cn January 1999, the world feared that Brazil might end up pulling all of Latin America, if not the entire world's financial markets, down along with it. The leading minds […]

Introduction Cross-border trade in financial services is becoming increasingly important in the international economy. The cross-border provision of financial services to sophisticated customers -- including institutions, other financial services firms, [...]

E-Commerce, China's entrance into the World Trade Organization and the eventual opening of Cuba to free trade, are only a few of the evolving global subjects which will require the [...]

The turbulence that swept through financial markets in the fall of 1998 was a wake-up call. It revealed that risk-management practices and supervisory and regulatory frameworks did not fully take [...]

South Africa's Standard Bank Group has purchased three emerging market debt funds with roughly $100 million in assets under management from ailing Americas Trust Bank, and the firm is creating […]

Bolero.net, an Internet international trading system that's designed to alleviate paper costs and establish legal standards, went online last week after five years of development. Bolero.net is the brainchild of […]

This paper explores the responsibilities of the international financial services industry in respect of an overall evolution towards sustainable development. Within the context of the international financing of developing countries' [...]

The Askari Commercial Bank's profit after taxation amounted to Rs.387 million while its deposits grew by approximately Rs.3.5 billion during the first six months of 1999 compared to corresponding period [...]

Oman's capital markets are attracting foreign investors and fund managers seeking to take part in the country's privatization programme and in helping it to obtain international finance. Although local investment [...]

The strength and direction of the U.S. economy may depend increasingly this year on Japan, which remains mired in recession. 'As the world's second-largest economy, Japan matters in all sorts [...]

Retail financial institutions' efforts to expand globally are producing disappointing results, according to a study by Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group. 'A large percentage of industry executives are disappointed by [...]

A most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment clause was included in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), an unprecedented addition for a multilateral international trade in services agreement. However, MFN treatment should be unconditional, rather than the conditional or reciprocal approach advocated by nations including the US. Unconditional MFN can provide efficient access to low-cost financial services, while conditional reciprocity can hinder trade and raise customers' costs.

Ron O'Hanley's $1-billion money management enterprise BNY Mellon Asset Management has just been permitted by the Chinese government to invest money in behalf of its citizens, which is a first of such approval for a non-Chinese company. A fund owned and sold by China Southern Fund Management worth $4 billion is designated to be managed by BNY Mellon.

Tax reforms across the globe only serve to highlight what market players have suspected for some time: the asset finance industry needs to evolve. While tax-driven leasing will doubtless play [...]

Lower costs, improve operational efficiencies, reduce hardware and staffing requirements, mitigate risk, focus on core business competencies--we've all read the reasons why the idea of outsourcing is gaining in popularity. […]

Having fallen from the giddy heights of the late 1990s, the investment management industry is now characterised by strict cost controls and an unprecedented focus on risk management. Asset managers [...]

DOUG GOLDSTEIN acts locally and invests globally. As a Jerusalem-based planner who concentrates on helping his clients (both English-speaking immigrants and local-born Israelis) invest in U.S. securities, he has to [...]

The Financial Stability Forum (FSF), chaired by Andrew Crockett, General Manager, Bank for International Settlements, met on 24-25 March in Berlin. Members focused on two broad topics: a review of [...]