The former head of Banco Espírito Santo’s investment arm, José Maria Ricciardi, talks to Stefania Palma about the parent bank’s turbulent last days and how he hopes to exploit its established European network in his new position as the chief executive of Haitong Bank.
Sri Lanka's new finance minister, Ravi Karunanayake, tells Stefania Palma that his attempts to improve the country's economic fundamentals are being hampered by legacies from the previous government, an unco-operative IMF and an international wall of silence when it comes to corruption investigations.
The Philippines has grown to have some of the strongest economic fundamentals in south-east Asia, thanks in no small part to the economic policies rolled out by finance secretary Cesar Purisima over the past six years. He talks to Stefania Palma.
The Philippines has weathered the emerging markets storm that began in 2015 relatively well, meaning that its central bank has not needed to follow global trends and ease monetary policy. How has central bank governor Amando Tetangco achieved this? Stefania Palma finds out.
The governor of the Reserve Bank of India tells Stefania Palma about his role in halting the rupee’s slide and containing inflation to bring economic stability to the country. Not one to rest on his laurels, however, he is determined to reform India’s banking and corporate sectors.
The banking licences granted by India’s central bank to entities such as telcos, e-commerce companies and microfinance firms are shaking up one of the most traditional banking sectors in the Asia-Pacific region, threatening the dominance of the full-service public sector banks.
Ahead of the 2016 Asian Development Bank annual meeting in Frankfurt, the president of the ADB discusses China’s slowdown and reform agenda while underscoring that other parts of Asia – such as India – are still growing strongly. Interview by Stefania Palma.
In the space of just four years, mobile payments service bKash has had a dramatic effect upon Bangladesh, bringing the unbanked into the formal economy, speeding up and simplifying the process of sending money from urban to rural areas, and even helping the country’s central bank monitor inflation levels. Stefania Palma charts its dramatic rise.
Two months after finalising Haitong Securities' acquisition of Novo Banco's investment banking unit, now called Haitong Bank, the parent company's deputy CEO and the UK head of the new bank talk about the acquisition, their international growth plans and what a jittery renminbi means to them.