India, second only to China in population, is home to one of the world’s most active tech sectors, with innovative firms popping up all over the vast nation, attracting significant interest from foreign investors. Time will tell if these enthusiastic start-ups live up to their expectations and reward their investors with soaring profits.
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.
By now, it is clear that the global coronavirus pandemic and the government-mandated lockdowns that have resulted have had an unprecedented impact on the global economy. But perhaps what has not been sufficiently illuminated to date is just how critical the situation has become for those groups most at risk from this downturn.
President Jair Bolsonaro assumed Brazil’s highest political office on January 1, 2019. From mid-2016 to the end of 2018, a team of experts worked diligently to improve Brazil’s integration with the global economy in such areas as relations with international organizations, domestic framework for officially supported export credits and trade policy. Their initiatives provide the new administration with a strong path to prosperity through reduction of lingering barriers to international inclusion.
Mr. Romesh Sobti, CEO of IndusInd Bank joins International Banker to discuss Indian banking reform, the wider challenges facing banks in India and IndusInd’s goal of doubling profit in the next three years.
You could be excused for thinking that financial inclusion is a given. In reality, however, this is far from the truth. As illustrated by a recent report by the World Bank, 1.7 billion adults across the world are ‘unbanked’, meaning they do not possess a bank account or have access to formal finance. This situation is not confined to just one part of the world. Whether you live in a developed country or developing region, the unbanked can be found. For example, just 14 percent of adults in the Middle East hold a bank account.
How much value does a view have? It can have an awful lot. The luxury accommodations that combine lavish interiors with sumptuous views of the world’s wonders top the lodging value chain. In our travel feature, we take a world tour of the foremost accommodations that successfully combine luxury with the best views of everything from world-famous mausoleums to mesmerizing big cats.