Finance

Often there is a silver lining in the worst situation, even the COVID-19 crisis. Some investments will take a hit, but others will thrive, possibly including green finance. Policymakers and investors, who had been focused on climate-change action, seemingly dropped the green ball when COVID-19 bore down on society like a massive tidal wave. But there are indications that green bonds will emerge on the sunny side of the pandemic.

Mortgage financing has long been a staple of traditional banks, but in the United States, during the decade following the 2007-08 global financial crisis, many banks retreated from this once-lucrative business. What are some of the factors that have made servicing mortgages more onerous and less attractive to banks, and what can be done to rectify the situation—for the benefit of banks, mortgagors and mortgage market as a whole?

Throughout the past four decades, despite their differences, the United States and China have found a way to get along through a symbiotic trade relationship that maximizes their competitive advantages. Recent US concerns about national security and China’s dominance in manufacturing have strained relations, but now more than ever, with the pandemic threatening to unravel years of economic progress, the world’s two largest economies need to pull together.

Despite claims from bankers to the contrary, data confirms that a gender-financing gap exists, especially in MENA countries, generating a drag on their economies. Female entrepreneurs are often more successful than their male counterparts but face more barriers to credit. The data highlights the problem but also the opportunities that banks are needlessly missing by not working more closely with female entrepreneurs, who have proven they are good for business.

Small and medium-sized businesses need reliable lenders, but they are often viewed warily by credit institutions. That could provide an opportunity for Big tech that use alternative data to credit score SMEs and help them optimise their financial performance. However, it is banks that will be the future of SME funding because they have financial data, can guarantee data privacy and have no conflicts of interest with their clients.

Global upheavals on the scale of COVID-19 inevitably change “business as usual” permanently. Once the lockdown lifts, the reboot will begin, but how will it look? New approaches to evaluating risk and return will be needed to traverse the new financial landscape and efforts to scale up investments to reach the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals even more critical. How we approach the challenge and build sustainability into the recovery plans will be of great consequence and essential to improving resilience against future global threats.

Switzerland has long been a financial hub for international banks, but regulations have stiffened in recent years. The new Swiss Financial Services Act that came into effect on January 1, 2020, has tightened the noose further. What do banks that provide financial services in Switzerland and/or provide financial instruments for the Swiss market need to know to negotiate safely the duties and obligations that the new law requires of them?

Often we turn to history for answers to questions arising from crisis, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, there are few models to which to refer. From an economic standpoint, there are more uncertainties than certainties, especially regarding the duration and what life will look like in the post-crisis “normal”. One thing is sure: recession has spread to every corner of the earth, and it is likely to be without precedent.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not released financial institutions from their obligations to deal with money-laundering and terrorist-financing risks within their operations. In mid-April, the US FFIEC released its updated BSA/AML Examination Manual, geared for examiners who are assessing a bank’s compliance. Even though the Manual was not written directly for them, banks would be wise to familiarize themselves with its standards and requirements to ensure they are up to speed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has effectively put the brakes on a number of promising economic trends, including that of the US construction industry, which had been thriving before the country switched into lockdown mode in March. Although construction was slower to feel the crisis’s punch than some sectors, as contractors now look ahead toward recovery, the projections are uncertain, with the return to “normal” possibly measured more in years than months.