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After the announcement in January from the Malta Financial Services Authority, stating the significant pending changes to Maltese pension regulations, both companies and advisers alike felt the net tighten around their daily practices.

Few commodities have experienced more pronounced volatility over the last few years than cobalt. This versatile, ferromagnetic metal has been increasingly sought after in recent times, thanks in no small part to its use in lithium-ion batteries

Given the prevailing financial infrastructure that exists today, international transfers continue to remain costly, time-consuming and risky—and even more so when there is a need to exchange currency. Such transactions normally undergo a series of stages that invariably include the involvement of intermediary parties and the foreign-exchange market

In mid-June, Cambria Africa announced that its Zimbabwe-based subsidiary—the payment-services provider Payserv—had suspended its service to its bank customers in Zimbabwe. According to Cambria, the suspension was due to a “collective refusal to pay historical and contracted pricing to Payserv Africa in US dollars

Central banks, guardians of financial systems, consider multiple factors when determining policy; today, as countries suffer the effects of severe weather, central banks feel impelled to include the risks associated with climate change. Groups such as the Network for Greening the Financial System, which unites central banks to address climate-change financial risks and aids the private sector toward achieving a more sustainable future, allow central banks to pool their resources to combat this threat.

Vietnam’s banking sector has needed a reboot for some time. Impacted by bad debt, corruption and lax regulation, banks have not reached their potential. In response to the multiple problems, Vietnam is implementing a development strategy to strengthen the sector. The pressure is on banks to comply with new regulations, such as adhering to Basel II capital standards, but banks along with rating agencies generally have an upbeat view of Vietnam banking’s future.

Australia, famous for its coral reefs and koala bears, is also home to some of the world’s most brazen banks. The Royal Commission that spent months investigating the actions of the nation’s top banks uncovered a hornet’s nest of misconduct and customer exploitation. Needless to say, remedial steps are in effect, and the banks involved have been left with little choice but to take swift corrective measures.

Diversity and inclusion have recently become top goals in the strategic policies of many banks, but how is execution matching up? Research continues to expose large gaps between good intentions on paper and good outcomes in practice. Diversity and inclusion are more than nice-sounding words; when realized, they boost profitability. Banks that go no further than prioritising these goals in mission statements miss out on playing the ace.

The wealth-management industry is in the midst of some seismic changes at present. The traditional channels through which money has been managed and advice dispensed are now being decisively disrupted. And as a result, those who are being affected the most—from multi-billion-dollar hedge funds to retail investors managing their own portfolios—are now operating in an almost entirely new landscape.

The term “operational efficiency” is not new, and in fact, applies to many industries because it works toward a common goal: to optimize operations so they provide greater returns – whether they be faster time to market, greater volume and/or increased revenue – relative to inputs.