North America

Outsiders struggling to make sense of the investing tactics of SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son can take some comfort: his own directors often seem just as puzzled.

Have banks finally learned not to hold their customers in contempt?

After a year in the recovery ward, 2017 results show some banks are healing. The most serious illness, negative rates, is stubbornly resistant however. The danger remains that banks may not recover before another disease –financial or technological – strikes.

Euromoney looks at the approach taken by regulators to encouraging fintech innovation in North America, after the announcement of a formal information exchange arrangement between the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Treasurers are naturally cautious investors, but in a time of low returns they are being pushed towards riskier opportunities.

February’s bout of extreme volatility in financial markets is likely to herald the end of the easy credit era. But that could be just the beginning of the fall-out.

Comments made by the US regulator at an FX industry event in Miami in February have raised the hackles of some market participants over the thorny issue of ghost or phantom liquidity.

The recent price collapse shows how far bitcoin and the rest have veered from working like currencies, but one cryptocurrency just wants to be used to pay for stuff.

The XIV note blow-up highlights risks lurking in the opaque market in structured notes, but also obscures potential benefits for a wider group of investors and issuers if the market could be opened up.

MarketFactory chairman James Sinclair sets out the reasons why FX liquidity could fragment further, in a new white paper.

Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein wants to remind everyone of the importance of non-static resource commitments – and how they can move in both directions.

The findings of JPMorgan’s 2018 e-trading survey underlined yet again the importance of effective execution policies and systems.

Blackstone-owned GSO Capital’s provision of financing for building firm Hovnanian, on condition that it defaults on debt in order to trigger a payout on default swaps, highlights the reputational risks for investors as they supplant banks in setting the agenda for the credit markets.

The recent disclosure that rare wine worth more than $1.2 million was stolen from Goldman Sachs co-president David Solomon, allegedly by a personal assistant, raises questions about which other Wall Street titans may have suffered the indignity of losses they would rather not discuss.

Tax changes are likely to boost their performance far beyond US domestic markets.

The forex market may have had a quiet 2017 with no big market dislocations, but liquidity is not as deep as it once was, while the buy side is becoming more discerning, driving changes in trading behaviour.

JPMorgan’s annual institutional e-trading survey shows rising appetite for mobile trading, but growth in algo execution has been slower than anticipated.

With just under half of Bank of America’s staff reporting to her, Cathy Bessant is one of the most powerful people in banking. She sees technology now developing faster than banks’ ability to implement it – or work out what to do with it – and believes cyber security to be the most important challenge of all.

Equities is a business where only the top handful of banks traditionally make money. It is also a sector with shrinking volumes and revenues. So why are two banks outside the top tier – Citi and HSBC – trying to boost their franchises?

While tax reform charges make a bad year worse for US banks, the timing of the law sets the scene for better results in 2018. But the fundamentals may not change: trading is bad, financing is good.

Concerns over rising protectionism reducing the trade in goods might be offset by the growing trend for trade in services.

As GSO’s controversial Hovnanian refinancing ends up in court, the wider credit default swap (CDS) market is the loser.

Converting boardroom dialogue into a corporate FICC franchise is not as easy as it sounds – even for Goldman Sachs.

Banks are booking big charges in the fourth quarter, but the domestic names are sitting pretty for the future as US taxes fall.

The latest cryptocurrency price crash is shining the spotlight on the regulation of these borderless, digital currencies, but the rules differ wildly from country to country; global super-regulator IOSCO is set to make an announcement.

When companies are allowed to borrow aggressively at ultra-cheap rates, things can turn ugly fast when trouble strikes.

Big data concerns and growing protectionism mean many Chinese deals will stumble.

Changes to the US corporate tax code are aimed at driving more onshore investment. For treasurers, this will mean reassessing their current global cash management structures.

Credit Suisse leads banks with coalition for investments; forest resilience bond slated for next year.

The search is on for masters of the bitcoin universe to rival the bond traders who appalled and fascinated the public in the 1980s.