March 2021
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FEATURES
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Zafer Sönmez was well underway with a long-term plan to model Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund on Singapore’s Temasek and Malaysia’s Khazanah – his former employer – when he was unexpectedly removed from his role in March. Before going, he gave Euromoney a detailed interview on the challenges involved in building a wealth fund in a country that is not blessed with oil wealth, plentiful foreign exchange reserves or even budget surpluses. Those challenges will remain after his departure. -
Jean Pierre Mustier has spoken candidly with Euromoney throughout his five years of running UniCredit. Here is the inside story of how the first foreign chief executive of Italy’s international banking champion came close to continental leadership but left in acrimony – after clashing with the country’s financial establishment and with chairman-elect Pier Carlo Padoan.
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The link between share ownership and voting rights has been weakening for a long time. With dual-class share structures more popular than ever, is the struggle to resist their rise now over?
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More companies are preparing to accept payment in crypto as the number of customers with digital wallets swells. But a confusing proliferation of payment methods means that innovation has made collecting payments harder, not easier.
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Sovereign debt: Enabling Argentina
Given its reputation, it’s not surprising that Argentina’s bonds are pricing in a high chance of default in coming years. It’s a little harder to understand why the country’s creditors are enabling this. -
Banking and bitcoin: The return of the dinosaurs
The dinosaurs of the banking world have recognised the threat from crypto. While there is no simple choice yet for fast and cheap cross-border payments, near instant domestic payments are the new reality. -
Egypt’s Banque du Caire eyes slimmed-down IPO post-Covid
Banque du Caire was on the cusp of completing a $500 million listing in London and Cairo last year when Covid hit. Its chairman Tarek Fayed meets Euromoney to talk about investing in people and digital – and why he still wants to complete a slimmed-down stock sale when conditions allow. -
FinnCap: London is good and bad for growth funding
The chief executive of a leading mid-market London broker reckons there are more funding opportunities than ever for small and medium-sized UK firms, in spite of the pandemic. But she still wants changes to London’s listing rules. -
DC Advisory growth shows resilience of mid-market M&A despite Covid crisis
Mid-market specialist DC Advisory has come a long way since its days as a unit of Close Brothers. UK chief executive Richard Madden reckons its acquisition by Daiwa and subsequent build-out of a more coherent international franchise has stood it in good stead. -
How bond gridlock in Laos speaks to global problems
Laos has twice postponed a bond that it badly needs to issue. A small country with few financing options, hit by Covid, downgraded and in debt to China – its problems are not unique. -
Is it finally time for blockchain to transform trade finance?
For years, trade finance and cross-border payments have looked ripe for disruption by distributed-ledger technologies. Asia provides some firm examples of breakthroughs, but – in the second of a two-part series – Euromoney asks whether trade finance will always be just that little bit too complicated for the blockchain? -
Secondary private equity finds its feet in China
It’s an asset class that took years to establish itself in China and Asia. But investors are turning their attention to an asset class that promises chunky returns without the risk borne by primary buyout funds. -
The challenge of sustainable supply-chain finance
Previously known as reverse factoring, sustainable supply-chain finance is one of the products currently generating the most interest among both banks and their corporate clients. -
Asia trade finance bounces back
Fourth-quarter numbers from Asia’s biggest trade finance banks suggest that business in the region has bounced back rapidly. Corporates have changed their approach to their manufacturing bases and supply chains, and have accelerated their use of technology. In the first of a two-part series, Euromoney finds there are lessons here for the rest of the world when the pandemic eventually eases.
OPINION
OPINION
LEADERS
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IPO volumes for special purpose acquisition companies have been extraordinary since the start of 2020, but looking at them through the lens of future M&A is when they start to look most shocking.
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OCBC, UOB and DBS are among the first lenders in Asia to report 2020 numbers. They’re in surprisingly good shape.
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Milton Maluhy officially became Itaú’s new CEO at the beginning of February. He now faces the challenge of cutting the bank down to size.
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The Churchill Capital deal for electric vehicle maker Lucid was long rumoured. The share price fall when it was confirmed raises questions for regulators.
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The burgeoning industry demands instant experts, but everyone has to start somewhere.
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As the unlisted firm shrinks further in investment banking, its asset management business might IPO on its own.
COLUMNS
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It has the backing of Prince Charles, as well as several big names in banking – but will the Financial Services Taskforce contribute anything new to the fight against climate change?
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Narendra Modi’s decision to privatize two state-owned banks is significant, but the shortlist suggests the ones on sale are going to be small in scale but big in non-performing loans.
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That China wants – needs – to put its own spin on the events surrounding Ant Group’s failed IPO last year is clear from recent leaks by mainland officials.
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Banks are guiding to lower cost of risk in 2021, but government support and forbearance make the true state of their loan books hard to discern.
MACASKILL ON MARKETS
Citadel founder Ken Griffin may have felt more annoyed than threatened by his day testifying to Congress about volatility in GameStop and other stocks popular with retail investors, but scrutiny of market making and clearing is set to increase.
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Citadel founder Ken Griffin may have felt more annoyed than threatened by his day testifying to Congress about volatility in GameStop and other stocks popular with retail investors, but scrutiny of market making and clearing is set to increase.
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Rob Karofsky will become sole president of the investment bank at UBS, ending his ‘odd couple’ partnership with co-president Piero Novelli.
FRONT END
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London is, unsurprisingly, struggling to embrace Brexit. Its advocates say the City just needs to try harder.
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The full-year results of DBS, OCBC and UOB marked the first time in a year the Singaporean banks had attempted to give any kind of media briefing face-to-face.
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Just when you thought the Spac market couldn’t get any hotter, news emerges that it is now backed by its very own rap artist.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
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Euromoney’s 2021 trade finance survey reflects an unprecedented year for the industry.
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The Australian financial services company has announced a profit guidance upgrade prompted by a win from its commodities business thanks to the crisis in Texas. It’s a bad look, but it illustrates both a complex and flawed market, and a bank with a great eye for a niche.
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The FTSE250 company launches an open pre-emptive share offer underwritten by a concert party of wealthy individuals to appease creditors in its pub securitization.
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Investors modelling prices from data across fragmented and illiquid bond markets find that cloud computing brings speed, while AI offers precision.
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The sponsors of a new special purpose acquisition company aimed at European financial services argue that the region is ripe for the kind of patient capital that the structure can provide.
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Polish companies have been behind the curve when it comes to sustainability. A reinvigorated Warsaw Stock Exchange plans to bring them up to speed.
