China’s Silk Road was for centuries an invaluable network of trade routes connecting Eastern and Western Eurasia. Now, in the 21st century, it has been resurrected in the form of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Despite suspicions about the motives behind the ambitious project, no one would deny the magnitude of China’s sweeping plan for infrastructure and economic development in more than 150 Eurasia countries. But can it pull it off?
The oil price affects all of us, so its movements are a popular target of speculation. So far in 2019, the oil price has been tracking upward, and oil-market watchers are asking themselves if it could hit $100 per barrel soon. The definitive answer remains elusive, as the multiple and at times conflicting elements that determine the price of oil are in a word: complicated. Stay tuned as OPEC meets in June.
The landlocked Central Asian country of Kazakhstan is vast in diversity, natural resources and land size but relatively small in population per square kilometer, presenting a challenge for its domestic financial-services providers. ForteBank has been striving to reach customers country-wide through its unique blend of top-of-the-line products and services, with a growing emphasis on digital solutions. In our interview, CEO Guram Andronikashvili discusses the bank’s recent successes and plans for the future.
Tsesnabank, a prominent universal bank headquartered in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, is on an upward trajectory, and is reaping the profits and awards to prove it. Dauren Zhaksybek, chairman of the board of directors, shares his views on what Tsesnabank is getting just right while confronting the rapidly changing financial landscape in its home nation.
For investors with an appetite for high returns even if they are seasoned with high risk, investment in frontier markets, the smallest economies in the developing world, may be worth considering. The best approach is to allocate only a small portion of a portfolio to these potentially profitable but likely volatile markets.
Kazakhstan, assaulted by soaring interest and inflation rates alongside the world’s worst-performing currency, is home to Halyk Bank, the country’s largest universal financial-services group and a beacon of hope in the midst of economic instability. In operation since 1923, Halyk is committed to cementing its position as the dynamic market leader of this vast Central Asian nation.
There is much rhetoric around the opportunities provided by emerging markets. And there is plenty of discourse around the fact that banks are de-risking and retreating from such areas. The fact of the matter is that some regions of the world are riskier to operate in.