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Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

A Small Step to Unlock Credit for the Club Med

This month the European Central Bank will start to buy euro-denominated asset-backed securities (ABS) and covered bonds in an effort to revive a market that has been sharply impaired since the financial crisis.

Economics, Policy & Regulation

IMF/WORLD BANK ISSUE—INTRODUCTION

Global Finance presents its annual International Monetary Fund/World Bank issue, in conjunction with the organizations’ annual meetings, taking place in Washington, D.C., in early October.

Banking

BRIDGING THE CHASM

MARKET REPORT | ISLAMIC TRADE FINANCE Offering inventory financing to commodity traders brings much-needed liquidity to the Islamic trade finance market.

Emerging & Frontier Markets

EMERGING MARKETS BRACE FOR FED TIGHTENING

CAPITAL MARKETS | FOREIGN EXCHANGE As the Federal Reserve winds down its bond-buying program and prepares to raise rates, analysts are debating the likelihood of a repeat of last year’s “taper tantrum”—when the mere hint of a gradual end to quantitative easing in the US caused huge disruptions to emerging markets (EMs).

Emerging & Frontier Markets

FIVE MINUTES WITH…JULIE DICKSON, ASHMORE

CAPITAL MARKETS | Q&A Julie Dickson is equity portfolio manager at emerging-markets investment manager Ashmore.

Banking

GOLDMAN SACHS TO TAP GROWING ISLAMIC MARKET

CAPITAL MARKETS | ISLAMIC FINANCE To diversify its sources of financing, Goldman Sachs plans to issue a benchmark Islamic bond, at a time when demand for sukuk is outrunning supply. Meanwhile, South Africa is planning its first sovereign sukuk, and the Egyptian government is working on a new sukuk law, following the military’s overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

INVESTMENT BANK HELPS REVERSE BRAIN DRAIN

TRENDS | SRI LANKA Hiran Embuldeniya, managing director at York Street Partners, an investment bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka, says there are plenty of opportunities for the firm to do business in the country as it rapidly develops in the wake of a 30-year civil war that ended in 2009.

Economics, Policy & Regulation

LAME DUCK CONGRESS TO TACKLE INVERSIONS

MANAGEMENT | TAX PLANNING When Congress returns following the November elections, the issue of what to do about US companies making foreign acquisitions to relocate overseas and save on taxes will be high on the agenda.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

NAIROBI EXCHANGE LISTS OWN SHARES TO RAISE FUNDS FOR EXPANSION

CAPITAL MARKETS | AFRICAN EQUITY Initial public offerings on the Nairobi Securities Exchange have been few and far between in recent years.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

NO COLLATERAL DAMAGE TO HEDGES AFTER ALL

MANAGEMENT | DERIVATIVES REGULATION Nonfinancial corporations that hedge risk by using derivatives not traded on exchanges won an important victory in early September, when US bank regulators agreed to exempt such companies from rules that would have required them to post collateral against their positions.

Emerging & Frontier Markets

SEEKING TO DIVERSIFY

FRONTIER MARKETS REPORT | KAZAKHSTAN Kazakhstan is rife with investment opportunities, but companies must be aware of the country’s regional commitments and business climate.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

TORONTO, VANCOUVER PARTNER TO FORM RENMINBI TRADING HUB

TRENDS | RENMINBI TRADING Even though Toronto is the center of Canada’s financial industry, much of the country’s trade with China passes through Vancouver. Groups in both cities have decided to work together to promote Canada as a trading hub for the renminbi.