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Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

CORPORATE METRICS | PROFITS ARE A STRONG PREDICTOR OF COMPANY HEALTH

Management | Metrics Corporations and analysts turn to scores of metrics—return on assets, working capital and others—to determine a company’s financial health. Another, the ratio of debt to internal funds, is one of the most widely used benchmarks. But a new study suggests that the debt-to-funds ratio isn’t all that accurate in predicting or explaining default risk.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

NICARAGUA’S GRAND CANAL AMBITIONS FAIL TO WOO VOTERS

Newsmakers | Nicaragua When Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega announced last December a plan to construct a controversial transoceanic waterway that would provide an alternative to the Panama Canal, he vowed the project would create jobs and bring prosperity to the hemisphere’s second-poorest nation.

Banking

ANDREW SPINDLER: BANKERS WITHOUT BORDERS

Global Salon Global Finance sat down recently with Andrew Spindler, president and CEO of the Financial Services Volunteer Corps, which has spread the gospel of sound financial systems to the developing world for the better part of a quarter of a century.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

BRAZIL: SMOOTH SAILING FOR PETROBRAS CEO?

Newsmakers | Brazil Aldemir Bendine became one of Brazil’s poster boys for success while at the helm of Banco do Brasil, but his new role as chief executive of the country’s oil giant, Petrobras, is causing him headaches.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

DELOITTE: BIG 4 ACCOUNTING FIRM APPOINTS 1ST US FEMALE CEO

Newsmakers | United States A new crack appeared in the corporate glass ceiling in February, when Cathy Engelbert was appointed CEO of Deloitte US, becoming the first woman to lead one of the Big Four audit and consulting firms in the United States.

Banking

INDIA: UNBANKED TO BENEFIT FROM NEW PAYMENT & FINANCE BANKS

Milestones | India The Reserve Bank of India’s recent bid to offer licenses for setting up small finance and payment banks has elicited an overwhelming response, with at least 113 companies entering the fray.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

RATING AGENCIES: S&P SETTLEMENT UNLIKELY TO BRING ANY CHANGE FOR CORPORATE ISSUERS

Trends | Credit Ratings More than six years after the housing market crashed—dragging the world economy and stock markets down with it—Standard & Poor’s settled in early February with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its alleged part in triggering the meltdown. The price was relatively cheap, as these things go: $1.4 billion with no admission of wrongdoing.

Economics, Policy & Regulation

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING FIGHTER CHAIRS KEY VATICAN UNIT

Vatican | Newsmakers René Brülhart, known as the “James Bond of the financial world” for his high-profile role in cases such as the return of assets from Saddam Hussein to post-war Iraq and the uncovering of the Siemens bribery scandal, has become chairman of the Vatican’s anti-money-laundering unit.

Economics, Policy & Regulation

LANDMARK ENVIRONMENTAL PACT YET TO BE TESTED BY CONGRESS

US & China | Milestones “This is a major milestone in the US-China relationship, and it shows what’s possible when we work together on an urgent global challenge.”

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

INSURERS OFFER LONGEVITY HEDGES TO DE-RISK PLANS

MANAGEMENT | PENSIONS As people live longer, many companies are discovering that they have to pay pension benefits to retirees for longer than they had expected. Insurance companies are stepping in with new products that can help take this “longevity risk” out of corporate defined-benefit pension plans.

Banking

BIG LOAN SIGNALS EGYPT’S RETURN TO GLOBAL MARKETS

FINANCE & CAPITAL | TRENDS: Islamic Finance

Features

Islamic ETFs Building Global Appeal

It is not only investors in the traditional Muslim markets in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey who are tapping into the financial and emotional benefits of shariah exchange-traded funds (ETFs).