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The world is watching full of hope as Joe Biden prepares to take the helm of the world’s most important economy. He has promised to act decisively on climate change, which must include financial reform. There is much worthy work to do — but four things would save Biden a lot of time.
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As countries across Europe tighten coronavirus restrictions in the run-up to Christmas, the European Central Bank saw fit to relax its ban on dividends on Tuesday and pave the way for resumed payments in 2021. -
This year proved to be one of the most dramatic on record for corporate financiers as volumes rose from the ashes of the market sell-off. David Rothnie examines some of the themes that defined the year and looks ahead to 2021.
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How important is reading the offering circular (OC) on a bond? Not very, according to some investors. However, that approach sets a dangerous precedent.
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If MREL is going to be an important line of defence for Europe’s banking system, market participants had better be able to see those defences. At the moment, they are hidden in mists.
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Green bonds awakened the debt capital markets from their long, slumbrous ignorance of environmental peril.
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The sustainable finance market clamoured for a Taxonomy to tell it what was green. Now it’s here, many are finding the answers constraining or simplistic. Alarmingly, the Taxonomy is also perpetuating the very thing it was supposed to root out — greenwashing.
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Jean Pierre Mustier's departure from UniCredit may help Italy in an attempt — shared by governments and supervisors around Europe — to push the banking sector to help solve economic policy problems during the pandemic.
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UniCredit chief executive Jean Pierre Mustier upset the Italian establishment but he acted in the best interests of shareholders. But if he moves on, the bank would face an uncertain fate amid a new chapter of domestic and international banking M&A, writes David Rothnie.
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There are a lot of positive things to say about the European Union’s draft Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities, but as far as buildings are concerned, its aims are too ambitious. Without a last minute reprieve, it risks killing the nascent market for green wholesale property finance.
