South Africa’s reputation for insalubrious dealings under Zuma makes it fertile ground for maverick short-sellers.

For too long, the country has been at the top of the world’s news agenda for all the wrong reasons.

When banks get around to reporting first-quarter 2018 results in April (the US banks) and May (the Europeans), it is already safe to say that their fixed income, currencies and commodities numbers will look particularly good.

The political opponents of former president Lula look to have ruled him out of the next election, but this risks an even more volatile outcome.

If everyone else is keen on consolidation, why aren’t shareholders?

Tax changes are likely to boost their performance far beyond US domestic markets.

Investors can support their local lenders by preparing to sell them.

The collapse of Carillion has raised perennial questions about PPP.

Like many truly bad ideas, state ownership of banks is a concept that refuses to die.

The good, the bad and the insidious in Asian high yield bonds.

As GSO’s controversial Hovnanian refinancing ends up in court, the wider credit default swap (CDS) market is the loser.

European bank mergers should be of more interest to European than US investment banks.

Any attempt to deal with Europe’s non-performing loans always seems to end up in a fight.

Woori’s woes shine a light on a banking system that is backward and lacks ambition.

The spectre of collusion may not hang over the US wealth industry for much longer.

Colombia will elect a new president in the first half of next year and, if the urgency to address the country’s financial position wasn’t already clear enough, the country’s December downgrade by Standard & Poor’s to one notch above junk throws the need for fiscal reform into sharp relief.

The eventual impact of the revised capital rules will be less severe than bankers feared a year ago, even though many lament regulators’ pivot away from internal ratings.

Outgoing chief executive was determined to leave HSBC without the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) continuing to loom over the bank’s entire business and reputation.

What’s holding up a key appointment for the Ukrainian economy and banking system?

It has been over 10 years since the start of the global financial crisis, which means we are overdue another one.

While growth forecasts for Brazil for 2018 are turning optimistic, a few – a surprisingly small number in fact – are warning about a growing downside risk for next year: a negative hit from a persistent drought.

News broke last week of an intriguing insolvency petition in India: under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, high-profile disputes are now commonplace, but what’s interesting here is it pits a Chinese policy bank against an Indian private-sector corporation.

Nordea shares big problems with other big European banks – it offers no easy solution to them.

Investor Access, the electronic book-building initiative run by US-based fintech Ipreo, celebrated its first year of operation in early November with some healthy usage statistics.

Analysts are glowing in their praise of Piyush Gupta’s digital strategy – how has he done it?

Deutsche says it welcomes any investor who sees potential in the German bank’s share, but holders are growing impatient for delivery.

Hard-ball US-style activism is unlikely to succeed in Europe.

Investing in a sustainable matter does work – just look at the numbers.

SEC action just delays a final reckoning on the rules.

HSBC’s next chief executive must quickly show he’s the man to take the bank forward.