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Russia’s muscular posture on the Crimean region of Ukraine, re-awakening Cold War tensions, threatens to tip the economy into a mild recession and has put a spotlight on the country’s structural weaknesses amid political risk, say analysts.

A group of the world’s biggest banks have agreed to join forces with Swift to develop and use a centralized due-diligence system designed to reduce the burden of compliance and the rising regulatory costs associated with it.

Although current account deterioration, persistent capital outflows and the Ukraine crisis would seem to weaken rouble, the central bank’s flexible FX regime should keep the currency out of turmoil, say analysts.

Barbados remains a paragon of stability offering solid growth prospects, a stable low-tax regime and a business-friendly environment

The longstanding one-way bet on USDCNY has been in disarray, but worse might be to come, as China looks to its FX regime to cope with credit issues, and likely defaults this year, threatening volatility in the structured-product market.

Barbados is one of the most diverse economies in the Caribbean. It’s certainly the most robust, drawing in revenues from a wide range of industries (tourism, business services, manufacturing, agriculture), which feed into the region’s most politically and economically stable state.

Ambitious plans to transform the island’s tiny stock exchange into international securities market should further strengthen its position as a financial centre

The roller coaster in emerging markets threatens one of the few consistent bright spots for investment banks since the global financial crisis. If the rout spreads, they could be faced with a sharp decline in FICC trading and a collapse in deal flow. But bankers remain remarkably sanguine. Could this be the sell-off that finally proves the EM asset class has come of age?

Published in conjunction with Euromoney Country Risk and the Central Bank of Barbados

A robust and vibrant economy is ready to build on its strengths

Recent political instability in Ukraine has once again reminded investors of the risks of investing in emerging market economies. Russian equities have fallen sharply, and the central bank has had to aggressively raise rates. This had followed months of broader volatility in mainstream emerging markets in which currencies have weakened – particularly in the so-called ‘Fragile Five’ of Indonesia, Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey. Sovereign and corporate balance sheets are under scrutiny amidst slowing emerging markets growth

Central bank governor DeLisle Worrell explains how Barbados has managed to emerge from the global financial crisis stronger and economically more diverse