Year in Numbers

Hostility to regulation, and particularly financial regulation, was one of the hallmarks of Donald Trump’s presidential election campaign. He insisted that the Dodd-Frank Act was hurting the US economy and promised to sweep away such rules to supercharge economic growth. He had suggested that around 70% of rules should be cut and many thought he would use his presidency to throw much regulation in the bin. The US Treasury Department’s June report to President Trump, the blueprint for this regulatory review, underscored this sentiment. “The...

Green bonds have made a definite impact on financing since the first issue was launched a decade ago, and now Green loans are starting to carve out their own niche as well. Though slower to catch on – Green bond issuance topped US$100bn in 2017, compared with less than €10bn in loans – Green loans have plenty of appeal for buyside and sellside alike. The data providers have yet to start specifically tracking Green loans so it’s hard to be certain, but the asset class probably began in July 2014 with a £200m deal for British supermarket group...

The global banking industry has undergone a painful process of restructuring since the global financial crisis. The good news for the world’s largest banks is that the crisis-induced heavy lifting that witnessed them engage in arduous deleveraging, dramatic contractions in business lines, headcount and geographical footprints – and saw European and US authorities levy more than US$300bn in fines – is essentially at an end. Institutions queued up in 2017 to laud the progress that has been made. In its Global Banking Annual Review for 2017,...

Markets like milestones, and Japan had its fair share in 2017. Even with North Korean ballistic missiles flying overhead, the Nikkei 225 closed a hair’s breadth away from 23,000 on November 7. The fact that this represented a jump of more than 33% year-on-year was remarkable enough. But more important for the market psyche was that the index had not seen those levels despite being on an upward trajectory for 30 years. The re-election of Shinzo Abe’s LDP in October 2017 was a key political milestone insofar as it presaged a period of policy...

Do investment banks have a recruitment problem? Bankers these days often complain that the best coders and most talented graduates are turning their backs on finance and opting for career paths where they can earn well while enjoying a better lifestyle. Yet at the same time, banks have been accused of ignoring talented students because they are from the “wrong” background or don’t have the right accent or look. Senior bankers admit it’s a problem. They say there’s far less bias in the system than 20 years ago, but know if they can lure more...

After the latest run of hot IPOs, there is no doubt that technology is now the Asian equity investor’s sector of choice. The listings of ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance and China Literature in late 2017 caught the imagination in Hong Kong, with hundreds of thousands of retail investors piling in with orders. By first-day performance, the November debut of online publisher China Literature was the city’s hottest major listing for two decades. Investors in the region are crying out for more opportunities to invest in fast-growing businesses, even...

Even before then-president Bill Clinton signed the 1999 legislation repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, banks had begun transforming themselves into global financial supermarkets. Citicorp and Travelers had already announced their merger the previous year to create what was then the world’s largest financial services company. Overall, big firms snapped up more than 50 standalone investment banks between 1998 and 2001. And it was not only US institutions doing the acquiring: seeking a foothold in the world’s deepest capital market, European...

Saudi Arabia struggled to balance the budget through most of the 1980s and 1990s. But then, in 2003, with the country on the verge of being downgraded to junk because of its soaring national debt, its fortunes suddenly changed. The price of oil – the kingdom’s biggest export – rocketed, and began a long climb that would rain riches down on the country, funding what was to be a golden decade. By 2012, oil revenues had swollen to US$305bn a year – five times what they had averaged before the boom. Flush with cash, the government spent freely,...

The fall in the price of oil in recent years has been a game-changer for Islamic bonds, tilting issuance towards the Middle Eastern countries that have traditionally had little need for debt financing. Whether these issuers remain in the market once the oil price recovers remains to be seen, but most expect they will be active again in 2018, at least. Patrick Drum, portfolio manager at the Amana Participation Fund, which invests primarily in Islamic debt, principally sukuk, said: “The fall in the price of oil has created a real opportunity. The...