Most governments would have been delighted to do what Iceland managed with its sale of Íslandsbanki shares earlier this year. But an audit of the deal has triggered a war of words with the body responsible for it, as well as some very odd conclusions from an Excel spreadsheet.

The market reaction to the third-quarter results from Brazil’s second-largest private bank has revealed investor sensitivity to banks’ deteriorating asset quality.

HSBC’s outgoing CFO, Ewen Stevenson, has mounted a robust case for the bank’s cost performance in an intriguing call with analysts that also featured an appearance by his replacement, Georges Elhedery. As he prepares to leave the bank, Stevenson defended his legacy by taking on the firm’s arch-critic, Ping An.

Words fail Euromoney at the mighty event.

While its larger rival, Binance, may yet prop up FTX, the failure of the exchange that spent the summer rescuing other failed crypto organizations suggests that none are safe.

Last week’s financial summit aimed to show investors Hong Kong is open for business. While well attended, it also served as a reminder of how closed off the financial hub has become and how much of its lustre has been lost.

November/December 2022

November/December 2022

The first nine months of 2022 have seen investment banking revenues plummet globally.

The World Cup is set to kick off in Doha on November 20 against the backdrop of recession, war, inflation and rising interest rates elsewhere.

Elon Musk is full of praise for his bankers at Morgan Stanley. It’s a shame his $44 billion Twitter deal is set to cost the bank money rather than earning a tip for good service.

The great and the good of global finance gather in Hong Kong this week for a summit that aims to remind the world of the city’s status as an international financial centre.

Bankers are sending mixed messages about market strains. Dire warnings about year-end pressures, pleas for regulatory help and assurances that banks can sort this out are being deployed simultaneously.

This year has seen banks report markdowns on leveraged finance commitments and related exposures, something that is hardly surprising given what has happened to yields. But even with syndicates struggling to offload some high-profile big deals, the troubles seem oddly muted so far.

The UK politician’s recent rapid departure from the Caribbean attracted both local and international attention.

Georges Elhedery’s move to the CFO role at HSBC has raised eyebrows among observers seeking to decode it. What does it mean for Elhedery, what happened to incumbent Ewen Stevenson, and what does it say about CEO Noel Quinn?

Islamic finance remains a federation of country-level success stories with no comparable global narrative. Does it matter if that’s where it stays?

Liechtenstein royalty target India’s wealthy.

How many trees have you felled today?

As rates on government bonds rise and economies shrink, the vast stocks of developed market government debt look unsustainable.

Asia’s central banks have fought hard to protect the value of their currencies this year as the dollar has soared. But each of them has a limit to their appetite for that defence.

China, the US, Australia and Japan are all conducting a curious courtship with Pacific nations, hoping to build trade relationships, climate resilience and security agreements.

Carbon credit traders want to secure the integrity of the voluntary carbon market while encouraging speculative trading that could fix its liquidity problem.

The curious case of the cows that didn’t exist.

In public at least, the Bank of England has been determined to end its gilts intervention when it said it would, but it’s getting harder for the BoE to manage its conflicts – and the market doesn’t know what to believe any more.

For one, it brings power to its digital operations, for the other a much-needed injection of funds. But it doesn’t change a grim operating environment.

Regulators want to prevent greenwashing; corporates need to abide by the rules. What happens when science doesn’t help?

Islamic finance has a choice: continue on its existing path and consolidate its hard-earned gains in market share, or shake the whole thing up. One proposal calls for an end to the fractional-reserve banking system.

If Lula wins in Brazil, he is unlikely to focus on the strength of the private-sector banks because fintechs are doing that for him already.

Six seemingly random numbers, when threaded together, demonstrate that some kind of negative watershed event may not be too far off in China.