Equal pay and equal opportunity make sense, but gender inequalities persist in financial services. However, progress is being made, with more women being installed in senior management and board positions in financial firms. There is much room for more progress, though. Chief executive positions, for example, remain largely filled by men.
Prices have been on an upward trajectory in 2021, with oil leading the pack. Factors such as increased demand facing reduced supply led to crude prices jumping nearly 45 percent during the first half of the year. Will it hit the milestone of $100 per barrel soon? Some experts predict it will, while others hold more reserved expectations.
Banks are currently facing a serious generational divide, and it’s an issue that requires urgent action, lest banks lose out on the customer of the future. For most adults today, the likelihood is that they opened their first bank account in a branch, accompanied by their parents. However, with the acceleration of digital banking, this assurance has dissolved.
Kieran Donoghue, the Irish Development Authority’s Global Head of Strategy, Public Policy and International Financial Services examines the continuing uncertainty around Brexit and role that Ireland can play as a strategic partner to the United Kingdom’s (UK) financial services industry.
Apple reported its earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2021 ended December 26, 2020, with a record revenue figure of $111.44 billion—the first time it has exceeded $100 billion in quarterly revenue—and $28.76 billion in profit, making it Apple’s most profitable quarter ever.
The last decade or so has seen concerns grow significantly over the long-term health of the dollar. Those concerns have only grown in urgency since the coronavirus arrived on the shores of the United States in February, triggering a nationwide shutdown of the world’s biggest economy.
2020 marks the 15th anniversary of the US shale boom, a period in which discoveries of deposits of shale oil and gas across such states as Colorado, Texas, North Dakota, New Mexico and Wyoming propelled the United States to the top of the list of the world’s biggest oil producers.
Just a short time ago, the innovative commercial real-estate company WeWork seemed to have got it just right. Its unique concept involving shared “flexible workspaces, agile services and leading technologies” apparently filled a void in networked office-space management. But its stellar progress came to an abrupt halt with the failure of its much-anticipated IPO. With debts piling up, this American start-up’s future lies in the hands of its Japanese rescuer.
In October 2018, S&P Global Ratings issued a stark warning pertaining to China’s mounting debt problems. According to the ratings agency, the country’s local governments may be sitting on a pile of debt worth up to 40 trillion yuan ($6 trillion).
Emerging markets are already looking forward to 2019, glad to see 2018 nearly behind them. It turned out not to be a good year for emerging markets as a whole, after being on top of the world in 2017. Factors beyond their control—such as the monetary-tightening regime in the United States and high-flying dollar, trade wars and market corrections in developed economies—are largely to blame, but recognizing this will not erase the pain.