Finance

Africa’s vast untapped potential offers as many growth opportunities as challenges to realise them. Financial institutions such as Standard Chartered will be essential in leading the continent out of the pandemic and into a future that is more determined than ever to master pressing needs such as inclusion, digitisation and sustainability.

Financial-crime compliance isn’t a regulatory box-ticking exercise; it’s there to protect the planet and its people from the devastating effects of criminals working in human trafficking, the illegal wildlife trade and other organised illicit activities. Understanding this landscape can help businesses grasp the real-word importance of anti-financial crime controls and their roles in safeguarding our planet from those who damage it.

October’s Brazil elections are set to have massive implications. Polls suggest the Workers’ Party will win comfortably, with the Bolsonaro presidency suffering from its poor pandemic response and corruption allegations. With the incumbent indicating he may not accept the results, tensions are heating up in Latin America’s top economy.

Even in developed countries such as the US, many are underserved by financial institutions, and the pandemic has aggravated the situation. Although public and private efforts have helped, more must be done to ensure everyone is exploiting the latest digital technologies. Trust and education are stepping stones to full financial inclusion.

The war in Ukraine has dramatically transformed global power dynamics, as Western sanctions on Russia trigger the rise of alternative financial models. Crucial among these is the absence of the US dollar as the de facto transactional currency, meaning that the two-decade process of global de-dollarisation is distinctly turbocharged in 2022.

With Russia cutting gas deliveries to Europe, it could turn out to be a brutal winter for Germany. Cost-saving measures are already being implemented across the country, but the fate of Europe’s biggest economy may ultimately lie in the hands of Moscow. Will the dire situation be the catalyst for negotiations between Europe and Russia?

Elon Musk announced in early-June that he would trim the Tesla workforce by 10%, as he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy. What does this decision say about the state of the global economy, as well as the famed electric vehicle company itself?

In mid-July, economists at Bank of America (BoA) forecast that the US would experience a “mild recession” before the end of the year. “A number of forces have coincided to slow economic momentum more rapidly than we previously expected,” the group headed up by BoA’s new chief economist Michael Gapen

While much of the world continues to battle against surging consumer prices this year, few countries are dealing with as seismic an inflation problem as Turkey. Indeed, the Eurasian country of almost 85 million people saw its annual inflation rate hit a mammoth 78.6 percent in June

The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) has been in place for more than six years now, but that doesn’t mean financial firms and compliance teams aren’t still experiencing challenges with the change. Initially, the main focus was on getting to the deadline, but attention has now turned to effectively embedding SMCR into an organization.