The Amazon rainforest is one of Earth’s most valuable natural resources, but recently, it has been under intensifying attack from ranchers, miners and wood harvesters intent on exploiting the region, aided by the current presidential administration. Foreign investors can either run the other way or take a stand and be part of the solution.
Warfare has existed throughout human history, but it hasn’t always involved swords and spears. If humans are doomed to fight each other, is economic warfare more “humane” to solve disagreements than military confrontations? Possibly, but both lines of offense can have devastating consequences for victims and should be carefully monitored.
Emerging markets appeal to investors because of their unrealized potential. As a group, they have performed well, even during crises. The pandemic has influenced this investment opportunity by rendering some EM countries more promising than others. Careful examination and cautious selection of the likely best performers are recommended.
In the latest edition of its semiannual report on Latin America and the Caribbean, “Renewing with Growth”, The World Bank investigates whether technological disruption could boost productivity. The report examines two disruptions: the pandemic-induced escalation of digitization and potential for more competition in the electricity sector.
Sixty years ago, China committed to leapfrogging its economy in a comprehensive reform initiative, the Great Leap Forward. Today, the country is bearing the fruits of those measures as it vies with the US for its title of the world’s most relevant country. In the midst of its Second Great Leap Forward, will China grab the coveted prize?
Nonperforming assets weigh down any bank but are particularly burdensome for those in emerging market economies. South Korea, in response to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, took steps that provide a blueprint for banks facing different circumstances but similar challenges today.
Crises inspire metamorphic change, and that’s happening in banking as we trudge through a pandemic. Can banks do more than boost their digital transformations—and bottom lines? Can they be the foundation of building back better? It starts in the community, providing services to everyone, without regard to race, gender, economic status.
For the world’s economy, 2021 hasn’t yet brought a break from 2020; COVID-19 remains dominant. Although all banking systems are vulnerable to upheaval, the situations for those in emerging markets are more tenuous for several reasons. S&P Global Ratings examined the three major risks facing a sample of 15 EM countries, including likely deterioration in asset quality, geopolitical and domestic policy uncertainty and vulnerability to abrupt changes in investor sentiment.
Open Banking originated half a decade ago as a European and UK consumer-protection regulatory initiative but has evolved into a popular technological concept. To give consumers more choice and data control, banks share their financial information, after receiving their consent, to third-party providers via APIs. The technology brings benefits to customers but also risks, so the Open Banking process must be carefully upgraded to find its promised place in banking.
Brazil is among the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its banking sector has been tasked with providing urgently needed financial support to its hard-hit individual and corporate customers. One bank that has stood out during the crisis has been Banco de Brasília S.A. (BRB), serving the Federal District. BRB recently changed its strategy and has met the challenge head-on through timely and successful innovation, leading by example.