Ant Financial’s Jia Hang confirms suspicions that the scope of Jack Ma’s ambitions in finance are very great indeed

In the small German city of Bochum on March 31, Bundesbank executive board member Andreas Dombret made a heartfelt paean to Rolf Gerlach, exiting president of one of Germany’s savings banks associations, at the latter’s leaving do.

All sorts of things can go wrong when you start pledging cows as collateral.

On April 21, Donald Trump directed his treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, to begin the administration’s long anticipated attack on the Orderly Liquidation Authority, created as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act to ensure the smooth management of US banks at risk of failure.

Ukraine’s Gontareva should be lauded for her efforts to clean up Ukraine’s rotten banking system.

Virtu’s agreed bid for KCG shows the pain from persistently low equity volatility hurting even the new breed of market makers.

Mulyani’s programme finds success much closer to home than expected.

The sale of Bradford & Bingley’s mortgage book to Blackstone and Prudential could be a blueprint for the Co-op Bank.

Continental European banks have long looked with envy over the English Channel – more than ever since the eurozone crisis – but with UK banks facing Brexit and a more advanced economic cycle, and as a degree of inflationary confidence returns to the eurozone, could the tables be turning?

Telecoms tycoon backs new SME online lender; chairman Péretié sees sector-beating ROE.

Bond Connect programme confirmed; long-term potential means little today.

Many voters now equate environmental protection with job losses, but investing in sustainability can boost employment.

At first quantitative easing offered palliative care to the global economy – now the patient is finally reviving.

Market moves to T+2 settlement; boosts eligibility for MSCI inclusion.

Euro CLO paper at post-crisis spread tights; borrowers exploit record levels of liquidity.

First dual listings promised for early 2018; investors set to seek reassurance on minority rights.

Goldman Sachs badly underperformed other US banks in first-quarter fixed income results, setting off a frenzy of speculation about trading positions that could have led to the disappointment.

The news that former president Barack Obama has agreed to speak at a Cantor Fitzgerald healthcare conference for a fee of $400,000 raises two important questions.

Developed markets have much to learn from the spread of digital financial services among the poorest in the emerging world.

The central bank found a way to enforce the rule just before lawmakers attempt to dismantle it.

The fortunes of the Spanish banks show how the recovery story investors have latched onto recently may be just as simplistic as the doom scenario they imagined only a few months ago.

It turns out that part of the reason Indonesia reacted so badly to the JPMorgan equities call was because it was downgraded more than Brazil.

As international banks continue to pull out of Africa, Afreximbank president, Benedict Oramah explains why African institutions need to be the main source of support for the continent in times of crisis.

An insider explains the Indonesian finance minister’s ire with JPMorgan

The country’s new minister of finance has ambitions to build factories, cut taxes and combat corruption. His background as an entrepreneur and banker may mean his plans can get off the ground.

The country’s last administration borrowed heavily from banks to sustain inefficient state-owned energy companies at the expense of the private sector – can the newly elected government repay the debt and get banks lending again?

Aval may be the leading banking group in Colombia and central America because of its sprawling structure, but could there be efficiencies available from rationalizing its operating model?

Beehive and Eureeca are using online crowdfunding to raise debt and equity for small businesses in the Middle East. Becoming regulated will allow them to grow rapidly. In time, they could eat the banks’ lunch, or the banks just might swallow them.

The liquidity issues that have plagued the Kingdom’s banks for months appear to have abated. But a persistently low oil price and the impending generational reform programme mean that Saudi Arabia’s financial sector still faces some big challenges.

After being bailed out with €7 billion, KBC has bounced back to become one of western Europe’s most profitable banking groups. Much of the credit goes to Johan Thijs. But is the real test of his bank/insurer model yet to come?