Features

Guest view: Voluntary carbon markets carry risks

21 January 2021

Surging demand for carbon credits is a positive sign of private sector interest in addressing climate change. But it makes no sense to scale up voluntary markets if it’s not clear what these traded commodities actually represent. Or how they will help meet global climate goals.

Breakdown: Evergrande’s rejig offers measure of Xi

19 January 2021

The indebted developer is scrambling to reorganise as officials move to end the nation’s property goldrush. The result is a frenzy of deals and diversification. Breakingviews explains how the group seen as too big to fail will test Xi Jinping’s resolve to deleverage the economy.

New Rio Tinto boss has Mongolian bullet to bite

18 January 2021

Atop Jakob Stausholm’s to-do list is sorting out the miner’s troubled $10 bln Oyu Tolgoi copper project. Satisfying Ulaanbaatar, pushy hedge funds and minority shareholders at once will be impossible. Raising equity and reworking a sticky loan structure are the least-bad options.

Guest view: Dislocation will be 2021’s buzzword

13 January 2021

Vaccine rollouts offer hope for a return to a pre-Covid normal. But disruptions to supply chains, credit markets and labour will be deep and unpredictable. Withdrawing support now creates costlier longer-term risks, the OECD’s Andrea Garnero and Muzinich’s Fabrizio Pagani write.

Bank capital rules are only half fixed

5 January 2021

Big shock absorbers allowed American and European lenders to survive the pandemic. Even so, they required state guarantees and supervisory relief to support lending. Though post-2008 reforms made banks safer, their instinct to preserve capital can make an economic crisis worse.

Urge to purge 2020 from memory should be resisted

4 January 2021

Nearly everything that could go wrong did. The pandemic threw plans – and predictions – out the window. As the world emerges and maybe slingshots into a Roaring Twenties rebound, old appetites will return. But the divisions Covid-19 exposed in our societies can't be forgotten.

Yuan internationalisation season re-opens

28 December 2020

The threat of U.S. dollar sanctions on Chinese banks has thrown the lacklustre use of its currency for overseas trade and investment into harsh relief. A recovering economy and rallying renminbi clear the way for reformers to liberalise further, if conservatives let them.

Guest view: China’s role in emerging economy debt

24 December 2020

Developing nations, struggling to repay loans, are being slowly locked out of credit markets. Their plight is likely to worsen. But when it comes to resolving this looming crisis, China has been largely missing in action. It should be held to a higher standard.

WhatsApp, Google can thrive as super-apps in India

23 December 2020

Entrepreneurs that designed the country’s unique affordable payments system are pushing to lower fees and unbundle the online market in shopping, food delivery and mobility. It’s a new kind of Robin Hood e-commerce that could extend the reach and curb the power of tech giants.

Review: Money’s history proves credibility is king

18 December 2020

Jacob Goldstein’s book traces currency’s messy journey from Mesopotamian IOUs to bitcoin. He shows it has always been based on shared beliefs and trust, and is closely connected with the development of political freedom. Turns out, curbing power may be key to making money work.