Free content

After another delay to the IPO of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) may have to accept that international fund managers may never value the kingdom’s prize asset as much as its royal family does, but local investors just might.

Chinese regulators are planning to rate the bond underwriting ability of securities firms. That may appear a sensible solution to an exchange bond market that has become cutthroat and chaotic. But the proposed solution is too vague to have much impact.

In this round-up, the Shanghai Stock Exchange said it will allow onshore investors to buy Hong Kong-listed dual-class shares, the International Monetary Fund urged the US and China to reach a trade deal and the Mainland securities regulator published guidance on securities houses’ bond underwriting practices.

The World Bank is hoping to step up its activity as an intermediary in commodity hedging transactions, providing credit enhancements for its clients in their arrangements with insurers to protect them from external shocks

Central bankers from Sri Lanka and Indonesia tell GlobalMarkets why Asian countries are annoyed with the IMF for not ensuring that their countries’ voting shares in the fund match the size and characteristics of their economies and so leave them with less of a voice

India has become the latest emerging market to use its sovereign wealth fund to move into the infrastructure arena. Managing director Sujoy Bose tells GlobalMarkets that investors could make a return as high as 18% but investors still fret over bureaucracy

The head of Indonesia’s fiscal policy agency tells GlobalMarkets that his country is determined to hit its pledge to cut carbon emissions by 30% and called on policymakers to put a robust carbon tax back on the political agenda

The current system of globalisation with the United States at its centre looks set to crumble and be replaced by a new global system anchored around China, leading economists have told GlobalMarkets

The increasingly obvious threat of climate change is leading central banks into new territory, as they begin to analyse the risks it poses to the financial system. It is stretching them intellectually and posing new questions about how they interpret their mandates, and whether they can lead society or must travel at its pace.

Investors have hailed the new ethics code for banks, the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, as an important advance in making banks more sustainable. But they want to see the fine words lead to action — above all, real decarbonisation.

In this round-up, the phase-one trade deal between the US and China ran into problems, China relaxed regulations on foreign banks and insurers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned slower global growth.

In this round-up, China’s third-quarter GDP growth fell to 6%, September’s CPI inflation jumped due to continued surge in pork price and money and credit growth both exceeded market expectations