Features

Guest view: Extinction Rebellion, finance’s friend

20 January 2020

The radical UK climate movement may sound like the corporate sector’s last idea of a kindred spirit. But spokesperson Rupert Read argues its focus on fast, deep carbon reductions are simple common sense, for financiers too. That’s why he is in Davos this week.

Santander CEO fiasco exposes banking’s fault line

16 January 2020

It’s a year since chair Ana Botin reversed her decision to make UBS executive Andrea Orcel the Spanish group’s boss. Misgivings about pay and management style were rooted in the gulf between wholesale and retail lenders. A 112 mln euro lawsuit will lay bare the culture clash.

Sultan Qaboos’ legacy of peace looks safe for now

12 January 2020

Oman’s iconic leader is dead after a 50-year reign. The risk of upheaval has been eased by the appointment of his cousin, and regional tensions that have subsided in recent days. But the longer-term scope for weak finances to hit Muscat’s role as a key Gulf mediator remains.

New York entertains a lesson in secession

10 January 2020

Staten Island may reanimate a 26-year-old bid to break away from the Big Apple. There are countless reasons not to, and the economic case is sketchy – but residents could back it anyway. New York’s “forgotten borough” is a fitting ambassador for a world that’s getting smaller.

Review: Greek crisis drama shows EU’s good and bad

10 January 2020

“The Last Bluff” tells how politicians and bureaucrats negotiated and bullied Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s prime minister, into submission in 2015. The book captures the strange excitement of complex negotiations, and the enduring appeal of the powerful but flawed European vision.

Gulf’s long-serving ruler is ailing at a bad time

9 January 2020

Oman’s Sultan Qaboos is ill. For 50 years the iconic leader has positioned his realm as a neutral Gulf player. If he dies as the Iran crisis rages, an opaque succession process and shaky finances could deprive a fractious region of a key backchannel when it’s most needed.

Guest view: How to cut the ESG disclosure overload

7 January 2020

The data Fortune 500 companies provide on environmental, social and governance risks can be overwhelming, hard to compare and lacking much financial use. Geoffrey Heal and Shiva Rajgopal of the Columbia Business School lay out a plan to clean up the informational morass.

Europe will emulate Japan’s foreign takeover binge

6 January 2020

A shrinking domestic market and cheap money prompted Japanese firms to ramp up abroad. Their EU counterparts already have greater international exposure but face similar stagnation and demographics at home. Watch the shopping habits of Siemens, Eni, Roche, ING, SocGen and others.

Review: Bloomberg primer goes beyond hagiography

20 December 2019

A recent bio of the former New York mayor and Wall Street information tycoon was given relevancy by his unconventional bid to replace Donald Trump. It’s a book that might have just sat on the shelf gathering dust but for the fact he might have a shot at the presidency.

Africa’s Alibaba looks more lemon than unicorn

19 December 2019

Jumia’s post-IPO limp could be life-threatening. The continent’s first billion-dollar tech firm has just enough cash to make it to 2021. But with losses widening due to high delivery costs and short-sellers questioning online transaction numbers, raising more money will be tough.