North America

Bankers have been at pains to stress how different the world is today from the dark days of 2008: higher capital; more liquidity; lower credit risk and all that. But while individual banks may be safer than they were, collectively they arguably now face a worse existential crisis. Societies face awkward questions about how they value the utility of the banking sector – and how they should pay for it.

Big foreign-exchange banks are focussing on enhanced functionality to promote greater use of single-dealer platforms.

Short-term government bonds have re-emerged as a viable option for corporate treasurers seeking returns on their cash, but recent events in the US banking sector highlight the risks of long-dated exposures.

Solar thermal technology could offer cheap carbon-free heat for manufacturers. But tech developers are stuck in a financing gap between venture capital and project finance that will be harder to fill after recent bank failures.

Interest rate risk management has been complicated by the fall in yields after the US bailout of SVB’s depositors. Clients may feel that hedging chiefly benefits Wall Street dealers rather than themselves.

It is not clear how the SVB collapse will change banking; but it is clear that the lack of supervision of smaller banks allowed systemic risk to spread worryingly fast.

HSBC runs towards the storm as others are fleeing it.

The collapsing share price of Silicon Valley Bank, triggered by the realization of a loss on a portfolio sale, puts pressure on other US banks that have built up similar books of investments.

Patents are a high-profile demonstration of a bank’s commitment to innovation, but they are not the only option for those looking to encourage new ways of thinking.

The notion that different businesses can produce healthy results by being under the same roof underpins Goldman Sachs’ diversification strategy. After failing to make that work at the first time of asking, its second attempt looks more derivative – but is perhaps likelier to succeed.

Tokenization is spreading fast. Regulated finance is finally embracing blockchain technology just as most cryptocurrencies stand revealed as overleveraged Ponzi schemes. The institutional herd is moving, but can the blockchains they are shifting onto bear the load?

Firms betting on interest-rate declines will be hoping that inflation does not force central banks to raise the cost of borrowing again.

Big transaction banks are responding to corporate customer demand for sustainability linked supplier-finance programmes by extending the geographical availability and range of the products they offer.

For the past few years, Goldman Sachs has dangled the promise of something new – a diversification in its business mix that would give shareholders a reason to finally re-rate the stock. But while the firm still has the glint of Goldman on the surface, disappointing earnings are revealing something less valuable underneath. Can its second investor day now fix the legacy of the first?

While no one is willing to bet the farm on anything other than dollar depreciation in 2023, mixed messages from the Fed, and economic and political uncertainty elsewhere mean the greenback could yet defy expectations.

Banks and corporates are taking a variety of approaches to mitigating the impact of rising interest rates, quantitative tightening and economic uncertainty on the availability of liquidity.

A report by a US short-seller hammered the stock of India’s Adani Group companies just as one of them tried to raise $2.5 billion in a follow-on. It was not just Adani under attack here, but Modi’s vision of corporate India.

Some leading FX banks have struggled to stay competitive in forwards, swaps and swaptions thanks to SA-CCR rules, but compressing portfolios helps.

A decade ago, the bank opted to go long on more durable sources of income – notably wealth management. Its standout 2022 financials are a clear sign of the benefits of long-term planning.

Appetite for corporate issuance remains robust as investors dismiss recession fears and take on credit exposure.

With little likelihood of currency volatility subsiding any time soon, corporates continue to face difficult decisions when it comes to how best to mitigate FX risk.

Some issuers are grabbing the opportunities offered by a new capital markets year. Others would do well to face reality sooner rather than later.

The billionaire Winklevoss twins and DCG CEO Barry Silbert have been squabbling over $900 million of frozen customer assets. The SEC has just banged their heads together.

The regulated US bank lost 70% of its deposits in a few weeks. But while that run shows the risks of banking the crypto industry, the key lesson is how it is still standing.

After years at zero, rapid Fed hikes last year led to sharp increases in NII and NIM. But it is not all good news.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has lifted the lid on some eye-popping charges against the former CFO of a special purpose acquisition company.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried faces the full wrath of US authorities, as rival agencies compete to make the most hyperbolic charges against the former crypto exchange head. Death by metaphor could be his provisional sentence.

Societe Generale and AllianceBernstein may look like an equities odd couple. Leveraging Societe Generale’s derivatives franchise is key to the new joint venture, as is maintaining AllianceBernstein’s reputation for independence.

State Street’s Chip Lowry, a board member and former chair of the Foreign Exchange Professionals Association, talks to Euromoney about his new role on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s market risk advisory committee.

The chief executive of JPMorgan’s Onyx blockchain business explains why it has been a long slog, and where the interest lies today after the crypto collapse.