Brazil has made huge economic gains in the past few decades, but this growth is now threatening to grind to a halt. Further progress rests on the country's ability to reform and tackle key issues, such as its infrastructure deficit and poor public services.

The subject of Scottish independence has received global attention, with leaders from the US and Europe weighing in on the discussion. But, with very few clear facts, opinion seems to be the main driver of the debate.

Establishing an ethical banking code is not as easy as it may sound, and could end up doing consumers more harm than good.

US fines on non-US banks for breaking the country's various sanctions is rankling the international community, and speeding up the rise of the renminbi and rouble as alternate trade currencies.

Capturing the world's large unbanked market will require an innovative approach. Are banks up to the challenge or will technology companies beat them to it?

The International Monetary Fund seems to have one set of rules for developing countries and another entirely for developed economies. And neither is particularly effective.

The political and economic discord resonating across Europe makes regional integration, in the form of the EU or the eurozone, completely unworkable. Nevertheless these ill-thought out unions are carrying on regardless, threatening to do more harm than good.

Non-banks have become systemically important, and so regulating these institutions needs to become a priority for policy-makers.

A new work by Thomas Piketty, chronicling the rise of income inequality, has become an unlikely best seller. But, while the French economist's observations about the uneven distribution of wealth certainly ring true, the solutions he offers to this growing problem are not nearly radical enough.

Many younger customers feel let down by their bank's digital offering, specifically the lack of a social media element. And most banks do not seem to know how to placate this growing market segment.