PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS
EXPLORING THE RATIONALE BEHIND GLASS-STEAGAL
Readers, who have basic knowledge of the U.S. financial system history, have certainly heard about the famous “Glass-Steagall” Act, which was one of the measures enacted in response to the financial collapse experienced during great Depression. Due to conflict of interest concerns and due to incompatibility of high risk inherent......
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE FIDUCIARY DUTIES: DECEPTIVE SIMPLICITY OF THE CONCEPT
Important disclaimer: the contents are for general informative purposes and do not constitute legal or other professional advice. Readers should seek legal or other professional advice in relation to any particular matters they may have. More than four centuries have passed since the first corporations ever were established and respectively......
CORPORATE CHRONICLE FROM DELAWARE
It is of no secret that Delaware is the go-to jurisdiction when it comes to registering business entities in the US. To understand the magnitude of Delaware’s popularity in this area consider two of the following facts: 1) the number of businesses registered in this state exceeds its overall population.......
APPLYING COACHING TOOLS TO PUBLIC POLICY OBJECTIVES
Industrial revolutions coupled with progression of capitalism and the competitive nature of human beings has led to a society that is more than ever obsessed with goal-setting, achievement and efficiency. No wonder a new profession known as coaching has emerged in the second half of the last century and has......
CSDR MANDATORY BUY-IN REGULATIONS: WHAT THE FALLINGS-OUT ARE ABOUT
Mandatory buy-ins are one of the most controversial rules in the EU Securities Market that are set to enter into force in the near future. Ever since their adoption, the regulators and the industry participants have been in strong disagreements about their effectiveness for ensuring the safety of securities settlement......
JUDGES, DISCRETION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Policymakers across the world have reached wide if not absolute consensus that courts are a key component to economic development. The OECD has long recognized the crucial role judicial systems play in determining economic performance by guaranteeing the security of property rights and the enforcement of contracts [1]. It occasionally......
COVID-19: Key measures taken by governments and central banks
Response to the coronavirus pandemic How Global Central Banks are Responding to COVID-19 When times get tough, central banks typically act as the first line of defense. However, modern economies are incredibly complex—and mishaps like the 2008 financial crisis have already pushed traditional policy tools to their limits. In response,......
Helicopter yes, or Helicopter no
Synopsis This is an unconventional monetary policy tool. It involves printing money and distributing it to the public. Imagine waking one morning to find extra cash in your account, a gift from your country’s central bank. But the concept of so-called helicopter money has been seriously debated by economists for......
Bank of England keeps rates on hold as growth prospects dim – The Financial Times
The Bank of England has warned that stubborn inflation will prevent it from cutting interest rates quickly, as it kept monetary policy on hold despite downgrading growth prospects. In a six-to-three decision on Thursday, the Monetary Policy Committee maintained its benchmark rate at 4.75 per cent, with a majority expressing......
Don’t count on monetary policy to make housing affordable – The Economist
Why is housing so expensive? Explanations have tended to fall into two camps. One emphasises a gummed-up supply side: a range of restrictions on land use and NIMBY campaigners have stymied housebuilding across the rich world. The other camp focuses on demand: a long-term fall in real interest rates has......
Federal Reserve cuts rates but ‘hawkish’ forecast hits stocks and sends dollar jumping – The Financial Times
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point but signalled a slower pace of easing next year, sending the dollar racing to a two-year high and igniting a sell-off in US and international stocks. The Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday voted to reduce the......
How to capitalize on the Fed’s final interest rate cut of the year – CNN
The Federal Reserve has now cut its key overnight lending rate three times in a row this year. And the effect has been a mixed bag for consumers. All in, the fed funds rate, as it’s called, is now down a full percentage point from what had been its highest......
The Age of Quantum Software Has Already Started – WSJ
Quantum computers are still in their infancy, but we don’t have to wait until they grow up to get a glimpse of the difference they will make.That means companies racing to keep up with artificial intelligence will need to contend with yet another emerging area of change much more quickly......
Google’s new AI tool uses image prompts instead of text – CNN
Google’s newest artificial intelligence tool, “Whisk,” lets people upload photos to get back a combined, AI-generated image – even without users inputting any text to explain what they want.Users can input images depicting subjects, setting and style before Whisk combines everything into one image....
Fed Set to Deliver Third-Straight Interest Rate Cut – Bloomberg
Federal Reserve officials are likely to lower borrowing costs for a third-straight meeting this week while also signaling fewer interest-rate cuts next year than previously projected. The US economy has proved more resilient than what officials expected just a few months ago. Recent data shows inflation is coming down more......
UK inflation rises to 2.6% in November – The Financial Times
UK inflation accelerated to 2.6 per cent in November, highlighting the Bank of England’s challenge as it grapples with persistent price pressures and a stagnating economy. The rise in the consumer price index was above the 2.3 per cent recorded in October but in line with expectations. Higher prices for......
Higher U.S. Tariffs Would Have Uncertain Impact On Eurozone Inflation, Says ECB’s Lane – WSJ
Higher U.S. tariffs on imports from Europe would weaken economic growth in the eurozone, but the effect on inflation is uncertain, European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane said Wednesday. The ECB a week ago lowered its growth forecast for the eurozone economy in 2025 to 1.1% from 1.3%, but......
Microsoft acquires twice as many Nvidia AI chips as tech rivals – The Financial Times
Microsoft bought twice as many of Nvidia’s flagship chips as any of its largest rivals in the US and China this year, as OpenAI’s biggest investor accelerated its investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Analysts at Omdia, a technology consultancy, estimate that Microsoft bought 485,000 of Nvidia’s “Hopper” chips this year....
Canada Inflation Cools to 1.9% in November – WSJ
Price pressures in Canada unexpectedly eased in November even as core measures of consumer inflation remained sticky, leaving the door open to further interest-rate cuts in the new year but backing the central bank’s shift to a more measured approach....
ECB Pitches Plan to Boost Insurance Coverage for Climate Losses – Bloomberg
The European Central Bank and the region’s insurance authority proposed a two-pronged approach to increase insurance coverage for floods, storms and other weather disasters that are increasingly being fueled by climate change....
Economists Boost 2025 US Inflation Forecast on Tariff Concerns – Bloomberg
Economists raised their projections for US inflation next year on tariff concerns and now expect one less interest-rate cut from the Federal Reserve than they anticipated a month ago. According to the latest Bloomberg monthly survey of economists, the annual core personal consumption expenditures price index — which excludes the......
U.K.’s Faster Pay Growth Leaves Bank of England in Line to Hold Rates – WSJ
Wage growth picked up pace again in the U.K., likely underpinning the Bank of England’s reluctance to cut its key interest rate as rapidly as its European peers. Average regular pay grew 5.2% over the three months to October, ahead of expectations, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed......
Google unveils ‘mindboggling’ quantum computing chip – The Guardian
It measures just 4cm squared but it possesses almost inconceivable speed.Google has built a computing chip that takes just five minutes to complete tasks that would take 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years for some of the world’s fastest conventional computers to complete.That’s 10 septillion years, a number that far exceeds the age of......
German Business Mood Hits Postpandemic Low, Stoking Recession Jitters – WSJ
Business confidence in Germany darkened this month as the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz fell apart and the country’s manufacturers struggle to get back on their feet, raising fears of recession in Europe’s most important economy....
Investors on alert for ructions in US funding market – The Financial Times
Investors are on alert for a potential end-of-year increase in US overnight lending rates, with some calling for the Federal Reserve to slow the pace at which it shrinks its balance sheet to avoid the kind of liquidity crunch that hit funding markets five years ago. Analysts and executives at......
ECB’s Christine Lagarde says ‘darkest days’ of high inflation are behind Eurozone – The Financial Times
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde has come closer than ever to claiming victory in the fight against inflation, saying “the darkest days of winter look to be behind us” and that further interest rate cuts were likely. “The direction of travel is clear and we expect to lower interest......
Eurozone Economy Slows Again in Chilly End to Year – WSJ
Business activity continues to weaken in the eurozone as further uncertainty around domestic politics and global trade looms in the new year, according to surveys published Monday. December’s Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index released by Hamburg Commercial Bank and S&P Global rose slightly on month to 49.5, though the reading under......
What do the gods of generative AI have in store for 2025? – The Economist
The 12 days of Christmas are meant to start on December 25th. But not in the world of artificial intelligence (AI). On December 5th OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, began a blizzard of product shipments dubbed, gratingly, the “12 days of shipmas”. It has included a full roll-out of Sora, its......
PODCAST: Why are non-financial misconduct reports at banks on the rise?
In The Banker exchange’s final episode for 2024, Aliya Shibli sits down with Barbara Pianese, Farah Khalique and Antonia Mannweiler to discuss the results of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s survey on non-financial misconduct....
The Missing Monetary-Policy Tool
Central banks should prepare – both legally and operationally – to carry out direct transfers to households when conventional monetary policy fails. Recent research shows that stimulus payments would increase consumption even when interest rates are close to zero....
PODCAST: At the Money: Optimizing Personal Health in Finance
Wall Street is always looking for an edge over the competition. But what if there was a giant source of overlooked alpha? Phil Pearlman, former Chief Behavioral Officer at the Bank of the Ozarks and founder of the Pearl Institute speaks with Barry Ritholtz about how the traders are seeking......
Closing the AI Skills Gap in 2025
A scarcity of AI-related skills in today’s workforce is becoming a major obstacle to deploying the technology effectively. To unleash AI’s full potential, public- and private-sector organizations must work together to update the prevailing model of career education and training. With artificial intelligence poised to reshape industries worldwide, a paradox......
Consumers Are Spending More. Inflation Is Only Part of the Story
Inflation is not the only reason why consumers increase their spending. As it turns out, many consumers also deliberately choose to spend more. Why? Because they feel good about their income and savings, because they have good job prospects, because they enjoy spending on things they couldn’t previously afford, or......
Climate tech can still save planet — but not by itself
On one front at least, it is hard to look ahead to 2025 with optimism. Hopes that climate change can be solved by global political horse-trading were further reined in by a dismal COP29 summit in Baku in November. Donald Trump’s re-election in the US has raised fears about what......
PODCAST: Young Men Are Pouring Money Into Risky Assets Like Crypto and Meme Stocks
Stock markets have hit a series of new highs in 2024, but a disproportionate number of young men are betting heavily on more unpredictable assets. Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Hamilton joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss new research showing that men’s attitudes toward masculinity are a predictor of whether......
Closing the AI Skills Gap in 2025
A scarcity of AI-related skills in today’s workforce is becoming a major obstacle to deploying the technology effectively. To unleash AI’s full potential, public- and private-sector organizations must work together to update the prevailing model of career education and training....
Why Profit Matters
However, the most profitable companies are usually the ones which contribute most to the economy in terms of taxes and investment – a fact often over looked the public.So, in search of further information on the UK’s most profitable companies, here’s what I’ve found:...
PODCAST: At the Money: Optimizing Personal Health in Finance
Wall Street is always looking for an edge over the competition. But what if there was a giant source of overlooked alpha? Phil Pearlman, former Chief Behavioral Officer at the Bank of the Ozarks and founder of the Pearl Institute speaks with Barry Ritholtz about how the traders are seeking......
What Will Happen to China’s Economy in 2025?
If recent positive trends continue, Chinese GDP growth will probably return to around 5% in the fourth quarter of 2024. But an ailing property sector, debt-laden local governments, and an antagonistic US president-elect mean that China’s growth prospects for 2025 remain far from clear....
Which Economies Are Ready for AI?
Views vary on how much AI is changing the world today, but one thing is clear: the technology is on course to shape the future of economic development. Business leaders expect large impacts on operations and value over the next decade. Worldwide AI spending will more than double to $632......
PODCAST: What’s News in Markets: Salesforce AI Boost, New Five Below CEO, American’s Card Deal
How are AI agents lifting Salesforce’s business? And how did investors react toa new CEO at discount retailer Five Below? Plus, why did investors likeAmerican Airlines landing a new credit-card deal? Host Francesca Fontanadiscusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them....
AI cannot replace the atomic human
The philosopher’s stone is a mythical material that can convert base metals to gold. In our modern economy, automation has the same effect. During the industrial revolution, steel and steam replaced human manual labour. Today, silicon and electrons are being combined to replace human mental labour. ...
Last Chance for the SDGs?
With a generous replenishment, the World Bank’s International Development Association could help lift millions out of extreme poverty, extend opportunities for improved health and learning, and support adaptation to climate change. Unfortunately, some key donors are not carrying their weight....
The grim ghost of crypto future
Remember when crypto was so heavily and onerously regulated, so unnecessarily scrutinised by the authorities, that the whole market crashed in spectacular fashion as one tightly regulated crypto platform after another collapsed into oblivion?...
PODCAST: Masters in Business: Michael Morris
On this episode, Barry and Michael discuss the connection between psychology and leadership, the basic tribal instincts that drive us, and his new book Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together....
Are Global Banking Rules Finished?
The Basel Committee’s proposed minimum capital requirements have long been assailed by the banking industry and politicians of various stripes. But never before has the post-2008 effort to implement global banking-supervision rules seemed so close to unraveling....
PODCAST: Black Friday: How Some Shoppers Plan to Score the Best Deals
Despite the convenience of online shopping, many people are planning to brave the crowds and spend Black Friday in stores and malls. Wall Street Journal reporter Kate King joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss some of their strategies for finding deals on holiday gifts....
Entrepreneurialism drives profit, but you need more than this to maximise capital value
The E2E Profit 100 Track rightfully celebrates the top 100 businesses in the UK that have earned significant profit levels and continue to grow and improve. Behind each business will be a team of highly skilled employees, with an entrepreneur leading the way to motivate the team and take the......
AT1: Investors’ Risky Bets that Keep the Banks Running (by Hayk Khekoyan)
When you hear the word CoCo you probably think of a leather bag with the famous Chanel logo on it, or the 2017 critically acclaimed and commercially successful animated movie of the same name. What you probably do not think about is a complex financial instrument, created with the purpose......
Is Artificial Intelligence Going to Replace Us All? (by Hayk Khekoyan)
Nowadays it seems borderline impossible to spend even a few hours without coming across the subject of “Artificial Intelligence”. There is just way too much talk, hype, arguments, doomsday prophecies or bold optimistic statements on how this or that technological advancement or tool, or AI in general is going to......
Did the 2022 World Cup Really Cost More than All the Previous Ones Combined? (by Hayk Khekoyan)
As the World Cup final is played in Lusail, a city that did not even exist a few years ago, Qatar 2022 will go down in the history books for many reasons, not all of them exactly football‑related. Nothing in the world exists as a separate entity in a vacuum:......
The Growing Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Business (by Hayk Khekoyan)
These days it is borderline impossible to spend a day in the business world without hearing the phrase “emotional intelligence”, its abbreviation “EI” or the closely related term “EQ” (emotional quotient, similar to intelligence quotient colloquially known as IQ). While the concept of emotional intelligence is becoming increasingly prevalent throughout......
The Streaming Wars: Part 2 (by Hayk Khekoyan)
Last year I wrote about the so-called “Streaming Wars”. This term is used to describe the process of the rising number of streaming video on demand (VOD) services from all sorts of corporations trying to position themselves in an ever-growing and yet such a tight market. The world is a......
Working Less or Working Smarter and Better? (by Hayk Khekoyan)
Work less, earn more. That is the plan for most people. Barring the rare cases of people actually loving their work, for most of us a job is simply a means to survive. If you haven’t won the genetic lottery to be born into outrageous wealth, just staying alive requires......
To the Moon or to the Ground? The Jury is Still Out on Bitcoin (by Hayk Khekoyan)
Bitcoin is back. Back to inexplicably losing more than half of its value in six months, back to being one of the biggest controversies in the world, but definitely not back to its all-time highs of more than $60,000 achieved twice during 2021. “When you find yourself in a hole,......
How to Increase Savings in Armenia (by Alexandra Ouzounian from The Pingry School, New Jersey)
Financial literacy is broadly defined as an individual’s financial knowledge and ability to use financial tools to execute his or her financial goals. The people of Armenia demonstrate a level of financial literacy (Figure 1) and gross savings rate (Figure 2) that is lower than the average financial literacy of......
Personal data protection: EU perspective (by Diana Javadyan)
Nowadays, more than ever, data protection issues are actual and crucial in terms of both data protection standard setting and data protection standard implementation. Recent Fintech developments, e-communities, artificial intelligence application and other technological advancements throughout the world bring up the need of robust data protection framework and protected data......
The Streaming Wars that will Shape the Future of Entertainment (by Hayk Khekoyan)
When the CEOs of Netflix and Blockbuster met in the distant year 2000 to discuss a merger between the two, Netflix was a 3-year-old company valuing itself at a measly $50 mln compared to Blockbuster’s market capitalization of around $5 bln (Sloan, 2020). Perhaps, having taken note of the phrase......
Why You Should Consider Learning Cybersecurity (by Hayk Khekoyan)
3.12 million. This is the estimated number of cybersecurity specialists needed globally as cyberattacks around the world keep growing in both frequency and magnitude (Duffy, 2021). The last few months alone have seen some of the biggest security breaches in history, more on which later. The most important development in the......
Will Energy Ever Be the Same Again? (by Hayk Khekoyan)
As recently as the year 2013, the largest publicly traded corporation in the world was an oil company. Exxon Mobil had a market capitalization well north of $400 bln at the time, which was quite the feat considering there were no trillion-dollar companies in the world yet. Fast forward......
A Possible Future of Money (by Hayk Khekoyan)
If you have not spent the last few years in a cave or on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the words cryptocurrency or digital currency should sound familiar. I will not pretend to know or try to explain all the details of the technology behind Bitcoin,......
The Simple, Yet Quite Complex Global Issue (by Hayk Khekoyan)
For almost a week in the end of March one of the most important marine routes of the world was blocked by a giant vessel, approximately matching in size with New York’s famous Empire State Building. It took almost another week after the vessel was removed for the traffic jam......
The Consequences of the Mass Investment Platforms (by Hayk Khekoyan)
By January 11 not as many people had heard about the American company Gamestop as they have today. As of January 11 Gamestop cost around 1.5 billion USD and was a network of computer games and electronics’ stores situated in several states of the USA as well as in a......
Why We Need Governments (by Hayk Khekoyan)
The man regarded as the father of economics devoted a great deal of time and a big chunk of his work talking about how free markets produce the best outcomes for everyone involved. Adam Smith, in his book “The Wealth of Nations”, told us about the invisible hand that guides......