The investment landscape has, for the past year, been characterised by uncertainty. It does not take a degree in economics to recognise that global pandemics, and their associated social restrictions, do not cultivate a desire for reckless speculation or needless risk-taking. It is doubtless for this reason that, according to a recent report from the
On Wednesday, mining stocks dropped after China announced it would release metal reserves to restrain commodity prices. China is the world’s largest consumer of raw materials. It fears that an increase in metal prices, and with it the extra costs that would be passed onto its consumers, could pose a serious threat to its economic
There has been a real drive towards ‘frictionless’ banking in Western countries, giving rise to the question: why aren’t cross-border payments equally frictionless? Especially for those in emerging markets, who have everything to lose and much to contribute. Read More
For retail banks entering a post COVID-19 world, the only way is cloud. Today, the world’s most disruptive banks are in the cloud. For newcomer banks, cloud has been the only option for some time – and the same is increasingly true for established banks as well. Why? Because cloud is not only disruptive in
Both Great Britain and the EU have agreed to begin discussions via an informal forum on financial services, but the talks are yet to begin. This had led to Britain’s finance ministry calling for the EU to expedite financial services talks, after the London Stock Exchange urged the bloc to avoid protectionism. Read More
According to research by Hamptons, for the first time in over six year, it is now cheaper to rent a property in the UK than it is to buy a property. The estate agency has revealed that pre-pandemic, buyers with a 10% deposit would have been better off than renters by £102 each month. However,
2021 is expected to be a year of change, with businesses around the world optimistic that the months ahead will be brighter than what 2020 dealt us. Many of the micro trends that companies thought would be temporary measures throughout the pandemic have become macro trends that are here to stay. These are a few
Last week, the podcast hosted Matthew Covi, co-founder and CEO of Signal Intent. A Best of Show winner in its Finovate debut this spring, Signal Intent builds financial calculators for banks, credit unions, and other financial services companies. These solutions, designed for the digital age, help companies enhance the customer experience they offer with what
If you are considering moving post-lockdown, you may be wondering what the property market is going to look like over the coming months – and you’re not alone. Read More
Members of trade bodies, academia, and NGOs will make up the task force, known as the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG). The GTAF will be responsible for overseeing the government’s delivery of a “Green Taxonomy”. This common framework will offer comprehensible standards that lay out when a financial product or investment can be classed as
A statement made on Thursday announced that the Swiss National Bank and the Banque De France will look into the feasibility of a cross-national arrangement of two wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on blockchain. The SNB has enlisted a private sector consortium (including R3, UBS, and Credit Suisse) which will be led by Accenture.
Index annuities are sometimes called hybrid annuities. They combine the potentially greater returns of variable annuities but don’t come with the same risk of losses, even if it means you get nothing that year because the stock market is down. However, there are several index annuity types. Know the ways to save your hard-earned money
