Weak May U.S. housing data undercut stocks and sent U.S. Treasuries up, while Europe grappled with a fresh tremor to its banking system after Fitch downgraded French bank BNP Paribas. The downgrade hit Europe’s banking stocks, leading to the end of a nine-day rally and pushed prices for gold higher on safe-haven flows. The rally fueled by China’s weekend announcement to emphasize a flexible currency rather than the de facto peg to the U.S. dollar appeared to have fully dissipated. U.S. crude oil futures edged lower in choppy trading, curbed by a stronger greenback and lowered expectations about a demand boost in China brought by ...
Former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel used convincing lies to mask his risky, unauthorised bets, an ex-boss has told a Paris court. The 33-year-old Kerviel, whom SocGen blamed for a Ä4.9bn ($6.07bn) trading loss in 2008, made bets without bosses knowing, former supervisor Eric Cordelle added. “Jerome was always able to come up with reasons, convincing explanations. He lied from start to finish and every time he said something, it was believable,” Cordelle told the court in the Palais de Justice. Although Kerviel has never denied his unauthorised bets that reached an estimated Ä50bn, he has insisted his superiors knew what he was...
As the fifth largest financial institution in Paraguay measured by loans and deposits, Sudameris Bank, provides a full range of commercial and retail banking and insurance products and services. The last 18 months was one of the most challenging times in recent years for Paraguay. A rebalancing of domestic financial market liquidity and the sharp economic downturn internationally brought it challenges. Late 2008 and early 2009 were marked with liquidity shortages as international institutions brought liquidity home to shore up their respective domestic positions; hence driving up funding rates in Paraguay. This was then reversed by: (i) su...
OCBC Securities is one of the leading stock and futures broking firms in Singapore providing full brokerage services for equities and derivatives trading. Having been in the business for more than 20 years, it employs state-of-the-art technology to deliver speedy multi-market electronic execution of trades for investors. As early as 2005, OCBC Securities offers a single trading platform firm-wide to enable institutional execution standards for retail investors. Since then, they have been continuously upgrading their global trading capabilities to offer a full suite of services to meet investors’ evolving needs. Today, investors have the...
Falcom Financial Services, a Shariah complaint Saudi investment bank, took the lead in providing clients within the Kingdom a flavour of the first ETF, the Falcom F30 thus opening the gateway to international investors who were not very happy with the SWAP route provided earlier. ETFs (exchange traded funds) are new to the region with only two listed thus far. Falcom has been working closely with the regulator and capital market authorities for the last two years to engineer the environment that supports the introduction of a sophisticated investment vehicle such as an ETF. What are the challenges for the investment banks in general? And ho...
The Alterego Group’s worldwide client base includes governmental regulatory bodies, major overseas law firms, leading banks, financial institutions, fund managers and multinational corporations; in addition to a significant local and international private client base. The group has an international focus, are in a good position to service private and corporate clients globally, and have particular expertise in trusts, companies and partnerships, banking, structured finance, collective investment funds and employee benefits. By working with a wide variety of fiduciary structures and, by offering both legal and financial expertise under one...
The financial market is a living, breathing giant, which evolves, grows and at times, much like we’ve seen over the last few years recedes, leaving both destruction and opportunities in its path. For Forex traders though, even volatile times can prove to be payday. This is why it is favoured by many traders in their constant search for yield. It would also explain the surge in popularity that Forex trading has seen over the last decade. Forex has evolved massively over the last ten years. What was once a market for inter-bank trading has now opened up wide to the retail trader. Foreign exchange trading has gone virtual, with online dealing ...
The company started its operations in 1997. In 2004 it obtained a Polish Financial Supervision Authority (PFSA) license becoming Poland’s first regulated FX brokerage. Its business activity follows the regulations set forth by the PFSA assuring one of the highest standards of service in Europe. TMS Brokers’ professionalism and compliance with EU standards reassures the safety of funds entrusted with the institution. TMS Brokers ensures that clients have all the necessary elements to successfully trade in today’s markets: recommendations, live streaming news, state-of-the-art trading tools and capital allocation strategies. Additionally,...
Nowadays private investment, having a widespread effect, tends to become more large-scale than ever. Driving this trend is that investing in some kind of business is the sole way of funds keeping and augmentation. One instrument may not be equivalent to another, as each of them has its own risk level and expected gains volume. The collapse of the US mortgage system, giving rise to the international financial crisis and generating a credibility gap against many investment mechanisms, compels private investors to transform “Where to invest?” into more relevant and sharp question: “What is the most lucrative investment?” Then, small wond...
The primary goal of diversification is to capitalise on your returns through investments in various areas – preventing a wipe out of your positions should the market turn against you. If you are looking into ways to diversify your portfolio, consider exploring the off-exchange retail foreign currency (forex) market. One reason, for starters, is that Forex, in conjunction with the interbank market, is one of the largest financial markets in the world and is rapidly growing as an asset class. However, just like any other investment, it is vital that you understand the fundamental concepts relating to retail Forex. If you trade other asset cla...