North America

European bond and equity markets have been happy hunting grounds for foreign investors of late, and demand for European assets has helped support the euro, despite economic headwinds. However, bankers now report a shift to increased hedging of European exposures, leaving the region’s currency relatively unprotected against interest-rate differentials.

The dollar has begun what many expect will be a prolonged march higher after a multi-year bear run. A strengthening greenback has traditionally been bad news for emerging markets and the early signs suggest this time will be no different.

Société Générale and BNP Paribas outline new plans to get their investment banking divisions growing again. The US market is central to the ambitions of both banks.

It has been a gruelling few days for Latin American currencies, which have borne the brunt of asset allocations away from EMs and into an invigorated greenback, ahead of expected rates rises – but analysts believe the longer-term outlook for the Mexican peso looks brighter than most other EM currencies.

Outflows improve collateralized loan obligation (CLO) deal economics and could drive the market to a record high.

The November G20 meeting could see the capital requirements of systemically important banks doubled.

A November rush to market is anticipated, but there are signs of a flight to quality by investors.

US indicators are slowly improving, but Euromoney’s country-risk experts are still not as confident in its creditworthiness compared with the rating agencies. The question is why?

The increasing investment by short-term funds in longer-term assets is a liquidity mismatch that is attracting growing regulatory attention. This comes as little surprise given the damage wreaked by just such strategies at the beginning of the financial crisis in 2007.

Regulators have been strident, if rather late, in their concern over the risk that short-term retail money now represents in today’s high yield corporate bond market. So when retail funds began to sell off in late July many braced for the worst. But by the end of August it was as if nothing had happened. The bond market’s ability to adapt may be greater than Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen believes.

‘The biggest role technology has now is that it can allow us to break out of the factory model and take us back to the ideal of individualized instruction: meeting each student where they are and allowing them to master a subject completely before they move on.’

TripAdvisor is one of the forefathers of tech innovators that changed the world of travel.

As the Fed prepares for rate hikes, the hope is that the ECB stands ready to take over its mantle as chief global liquidity provider, raising the spectre of the euro becoming a more attractive funding currency for carry strategies.

It's a sad indictment of the state of the banking industry that a half billion dollar settlement looks like a good outcome. HSBC's share price went up on news of its agreement with the FHFA. But neither it nor the rest of the industry should take too much comfort.

As retail money accounts for an ever-larger percentage of leveraged finance, investors must not lose sight of what this asset class is all about.

The players and payers attracting the top digital talent are not the financial powerhouses, but the technology firms.

The M&A business is the most compulsive spectacle of how booming financial markets have collided with the real economy.

Those in need of credit are turning to emerging online platforms rather than their traditional banks. It’s faster, easier and more transparent. And emerging market business is leading the way.

The world’s biggest banks have been slow to embrace the digital era. What can financial services CEOs learn from new, tech-based companies that have successfully disrupted other industries? What needs to change?

The demise in 2012 of Derwent Absolute Return, the only hedge fund purely using a Twitter feed to inform its investment decisions, may have come as little surprise to many in the market.

Big data, analytics and technology have the potential to transform the global investment banking industry into a leaner, meaner and better-equipped money making machine. Some investment banks have recognised the opportunity. Few, if any, have worked out how to make it happen.

Vincent Kilcoyne, UK & Ireland capital markets industry lead at SAS, one of the largest business analytics software providers, smells an opportunity. “This challenge is probably one of the biggest they have ever had.”

Banks need to keep up to date with the changing technological landscape, but with time and financial constraints, enlisting an external vendor might not be the best option.

With four months to go before international banks need to start reporting intraday liquidity risk, concerns are escalating that the lack of clear and emphatic guidance on the matter will lead to disparate application of the requirements and the deadline being missed.

Regulators find resolution plans ‘non-credible’; threat of break up hangs in the air.

The US leveraged loan market is braced for the results of the 2014 Shared National Credits (SNC) survey, the annual review of bank syndicated lending by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Despite the volatility in its price and its still-limited practical use, an increase in the number of merchants accepting Bitcoin in recent months has ignited optimism among digital-currency proponents.

The CureCoin Forum has teamed up with Stanford University to launch a new ethical cryptocurrency that aims to find cures for common, life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, by bringing together science and the craze for cryptocurrencies.

Global trade flows are set to increase to $33 trillion by 2020 according to the World Trade Organization, driven in part by the growing south-south trade corridors.

While the ECB is preparing the market for softer monetary conditions, the Federal Reserve is gradually tapering its quantitative-easing programme and the market expects rate hikes to commence from Q3 2015. However, falling US real rates will complicate Draghi’s bid to weaken the euro.