The government of South Sudan has finally approved a budget for the 2012/13 fiscal year, which began in July, but of greater significance is the newly formed country's negotiations with Sudan over how to transport its vast oil reserves.
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Top Arab banks ranking, 2012
October 1, 2012Arab banks offset the turmoil of the Arab Spring and offered a robust performance in 2011 with impressive growth across the key financial indicators. And with minimal exposure to the eurozone crisis, the region's banks are expected to continue their recovery from the global financial crisis.
Offshore renminbi spreads beyond Hong Kong
October 1, 2012Hong Kong is the world’s offshore centre for the renminbi, and now other international centres are joining the Chinese currency’s path to internationalisation. But as additional pools of liquidity are being created, will the new centres dilute the existing offshore liquidity and create separate puddles rather than one large pool?
Europe's ongoing economic woes take toll on Poland
October 1, 2012For the past five years, Poland's economy has been something of an anomaly in Europe, maintaining a healthy level of growth despite the widespread economic malaise surrounding it. But with many of the country's banks facing steep losses from foreign exchange mortgages and construction sector loans, and with parent banks looking to drain liquidity from their Polish operations, cracks are starting to show.
World
/ Western Europe
/ Italy
UniCredit beats Italy’s sovereign blues
October 1, 2012A covered bond placed with a yield well inside the Italian government provides a reassuring signal that the country’s largest bank by assets, UniCredit, has a viable funding plan to ride out the sovereign crisis.
Asia's financial centres compete for wealth management supremacy
October 1, 2012As the economic scales tip in favour of emerging economies – particularly those in Asia – it seems increasingly likely that one of the region's leading financial centres will steal the status of global wealth management capital from Switzerland. The question is, which city will it be?
Banque du Liban’s reaps rewards from national payment system upgrade
October 1, 2012Lebanon’s central bank recently went live with a national payment scheme. Ali Nahle, senior executive director and head of the IT department, talks about its success and discusses the national clearing house and government payment scheme, which are next on the agenda.
World
/ Western Europe
/ Italy
Italy's banking leaders see chinks of light amid the gloom
October 1, 2012Italy's banks are struggling. Many are weighed down by bad assets and an oversubscription to government bonds, while those with relatively healthy portfolios are battling against a difficult economy and the series of downgrades that has recently befallen them. Despite this, CEOs at the country's largest institutions remain optimistic.
Established centres keep hold of asset management survey top spots
October 1, 2012With the recent Libor scandal failing to shake asset managers' confidence in London, emerging centres will have to work hard if they are to overtake the UK capital as the world's leading asset management centre.
Correspondent banking under Dodd-Frank, Section 1073: the new normal
October 1, 2012The Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1073 is going to alter the practice of retail cross-border payments services – not just for US-based financial institutions but also for their correspondent banking relationships abroad. The deadline is near, but a practical solution to meet the requirements of the rule still seems far off. The Banker looks at some alternatives that have finally started to emerge.
