PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS
EXPLORING THE RATIONALE BEHIND GLASS-STEAGAL
Readers, who have basic knowledge of the U.S. financial system history, have certainly heard about the famous “Glass-Steagall” Act, which was one of the measures enacted in response to the financial collapse experienced during great Depression. Due to conflict of interest concerns and due to incompatibility of high risk inherent......
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE FIDUCIARY DUTIES: DECEPTIVE SIMPLICITY OF THE CONCEPT
Important disclaimer: the contents are for general informative purposes and do not constitute legal or other professional advice. Readers should seek legal or other professional advice in relation to any particular matters they may have. More than four centuries have passed since the first corporations ever were established and respectively......
CORPORATE CHRONICLE FROM DELAWARE
It is of no secret that Delaware is the go-to jurisdiction when it comes to registering business entities in the US. To understand the magnitude of Delaware’s popularity in this area consider two of the following facts: 1) the number of businesses registered in this state exceeds its overall population.......
APPLYING COACHING TOOLS TO PUBLIC POLICY OBJECTIVES
Industrial revolutions coupled with progression of capitalism and the competitive nature of human beings has led to a society that is more than ever obsessed with goal-setting, achievement and efficiency. No wonder a new profession known as coaching has emerged in the second half of the last century and has......
CSDR MANDATORY BUY-IN REGULATIONS: WHAT THE FALLINGS-OUT ARE ABOUT
Mandatory buy-ins are one of the most controversial rules in the EU Securities Market that are set to enter into force in the near future. Ever since their adoption, the regulators and the industry participants have been in strong disagreements about their effectiveness for ensuring the safety of securities settlement......
JUDGES, DISCRETION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Policymakers across the world have reached wide if not absolute consensus that courts are a key component to economic development. The OECD has long recognized the crucial role judicial systems play in determining economic performance by guaranteeing the security of property rights and the enforcement of contracts [1]. It occasionally......
COVID-19: Key measures taken by governments and central banks
Response to the coronavirus pandemic How Global Central Banks are Responding to COVID-19 When times get tough, central banks typically act as the first line of defense. However, modern economies are incredibly complex—and mishaps like the 2008 financial crisis have already pushed traditional policy tools to their limits. In response,......
Helicopter yes, or Helicopter no
Synopsis This is an unconventional monetary policy tool. It involves printing money and distributing it to the public. Imagine waking one morning to find extra cash in your account, a gift from your country’s central bank. But the concept of so-called helicopter money has been seriously debated by economists for......
U.K. Economy Slows But Keeps Growing Despite Tariff Swings – WSJ
The U.K. economy slowed in the three months through June but continued to grow, proving resilient to a rise in U.S. tariffs that hit exports and to higher taxes on businesses that cooled hiring. Gross domestic product, a measure of the goods and services produced across the economy, increased by......
Eurozone Industrial Production Slumps More Than Expected as Tariff Effects Sting – WSJ
European industry felt the effects of the pullback of tariff frontrunning in June, as industrial production declined more than expected.Industrial production fell 1.3% on month in June, more than reversing the 1.1% increase in May, Eurostat data said Thursday. That was a stronger fall than the 0.9% expected by a......
Would rebranding retirement motivate more Millennials and Gen Z-ers to start saving into pensions? – Independent
Pensions have a big branding problem, which is putting off more Millennials and Gen Z from investing in their retirements.With two million pensioners currently living in poverty – and almost 40 per cent of the population on track to experience poverty in retirement – that needs to change....
Who will pay for the $3tn AI building boom? – The Financial Times
Hyperscalers will fund only half of the $2.9tn of future AI infrastructure. Main financing paths for global data centre spend (2025-2028).AI Infrastructure Costs: The global race to build AI infrastructure is expected to cost around $3 trillion.Big Tech & Private Capital: Major tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are......
Uber is readying itself for the driverless age—again – The Economist
“Always be hustlin’, ” was the credo of Travis Kalanick, co-founder and former boss of Uber. That mindset helped turn the company into the world’s largest ride-hailing platform, with operations in more than 70 countries and 10,000 cities. Its name has now become a commonly used verb. But while Uber......
Why firms are merging HR and IT departments – BBC
Even if you have never worked for a big company, you will probably have an idea what the HR and IT departments do.Human resources (HR) deal with people, IT deal with the technology.It might seem like an obvious management division, but some companies are merging the responsibility for those departments......
Inflation Held Steady at 2.7% in July – WSJ
Inflation held steady in July even as President Trump’s tariff increases left their mark on some consumer prices, keeping a Federal Reserve rate cut in play for next month.Consumer prices were up 2.7% in July from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Tuesday, unchanged from June’s gain. That was......
Tech expert: Embracing AI is key to bridging productivity gap between Europe and the US – EuroNews
Worker productivity in Europe is lower than in the US, and the gap continues to widen. Embracing AI could help reverse that.Despite cultural similarities and technological progress, the productivity gap between Europe and the United States not only persists – it’s growing....
Reserve Bank of Australia Cuts Rates and Points to Further Easing – WSJ
The Reserve Bank of Australia delivered its third interest rate cut since the start of the year, responding to evidence that inflation has cooled and new forecasts showing that it is likely to remain contained.The 25 basis point reduction in the official cash rate to 3.60% on Tuesday follows similar......
An economist’s guide to big life decisions – The Economist
Time for your annual check-up. After what feels like an eternity in the waiting room, flicking through dog-eared copies of the world’s finest publications (did you know Indonesia is at a crossroads?), your name is called at last. A smiling professional awaits you, only this time the room smells not......
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival – The Financial Times
OpenAI and its co-founder Sam Altman are preparing to back a company that will compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink by connecting human brains with computers, heightening the rivalry between the two billionaire entrepreneurs. The new venture, called Merge Labs, is raising new funds at a $850mn valuation, with much of......
Xi Jinping’s city of the future is coming to life – The Economist
Xiongan, China’s “city of the future” and a pet project of Xi Jinping, the country’s supreme leader, has become a byword for costly vanity projects. Central-government and provincial planners have spent at least 835bn yuan ($116bn) on the city since 2017, when they broke ground in what had been marshy farmland......
US Small-Business Optimism Rises to Five-Month High on Economy – Bloomberg
Sentiment among US small businesses climbed to a five-month high in July as owners grew more upbeat about the economic outlook, fueling a pickup in expansion plans.The National Federation of Independent Business optimism index increased 1.7 points last month to 100.3, according to data out Tuesday. Six of the 10......
A New Generation of ‘Buy the Dip’ Investors Is Propping Up the Market – WSJ
You can’t keep everyday investors down for long, at least not in this market.When markets swooned this spring in the face of tariff turmoil, individual investors jumped in to buy the dip. They helped propel a rebound in stocks to record levels and even resurrected meme trades....
Want better returns? Forget risk. Focus on fear – The Economist
An investor will take on more risk only if they expect higher returns in compensation. The idea is a cornerstone of financial theory. Yet look around today and you have to wonder. Risks to growth—whether from fraught geopolitics or vast government borrowing—are becoming ever-more fearsome....
Billions Flow to New Hedge Funds Focused on AI-Related Bets – WSJ
Leopold Aschenbrenner emerged last year as a precocious artificial-intelligence influencer after publishing a widely read manifesto. Then he decided to try his hand at stock picking.The 23-year-old with no professional investing experience quickly raised more money for a hedge fund than most pedigreed portfolio managers can when they strike out......
Can we just have one day when no one mentions AI? – The Financial Times
On the first Monday of this month, AI made it into headlines around the world more than 2,100 times. Artificial intelligence was reported to be scamming people in Malaysia; learning the Luganda language in Uganda; reshaping the Indian tech sector; and creating billionaires across the US and China....
Buy now, pay later is taking over the world. Good – The Economist
Burritos ordered online, tickets to Coachella and Botox injections. These are not just must-haves for some American consumers—they can now all be bought using buy-now, pay-later financing....
Inflation Up or Down? What About Jobs? The Agency That Should Know Is on the Rocks – WSJ
Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was having a routine morning a couple of weeks ago at the new BLS headquarters in Suitland, Md. The federal agency had just published the monthly jobs report, a release that business executives, Wall Street traders and Federal Reserve officials spend......
Big Oil heeds call to ‘drill, baby, drill’ as green transition slows – The Financial Times
The world’s leading oil companies are stepping up their hunt for new oil and gas reserves, as a slower than expected transition to clean energy sets the stage for stronger fossil fuel demand for decades to come. Executives from BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies all used recent earnings calls......
A new look at the economics of AI
Artificial intelligence research is filled with dramatic forecasts. AI will affect almost 40% of jobs around the world, according to the International Monetary Fund. It will increase global GDP by $7 trillion — or 7% — over 10 years, predicts Goldman Sachs. Or it will grow between $17.1 and $25.6......
New Standards for Economic Data Aim to Sharpen View of Global Economy
The updated System of National Accounts better captures digitalization, intangible assets, and global production—helping governments support growth, jobs, and investment...
What Is Checkless Banking?
If you don’t regularly write checks and you want to avoid overdraft fees on your account, checkless banking is worth exploring. An alternative to a traditional checking account, a checkless bank account doesn’t provide paper checks or overdraft protection. Instead, this type of account reins in overdrafts and relies heavily......
PODCAST: Can we still trust US economic data? With Erica Groshen
After the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a worse-than-expected US jobs report, President Trump fired the agency’s head, Erika McEntarfer, claiming her numbers were ‘wrong’ and manipulated....
Cash Flow: What It Is, How It Works, and How to Analyze It
Cash flow is the movement of money into and out of a company over a certain period of time. If the company’s inflows of cash exceed its outflows, its net cash flow is positive. If outflows exceed inflows, it is negative....
Can AI Deliver Broad-Based Prosperity?
While nothing is guaranteed, there are good reasons to expect that the implementation of AI will usher in significant productivity gains. But even if it does, those gains will not automatically lead to widely shared benefits in terms of employment and incomes....
7 Types of Artificial Intelligence
If you’ve ever used Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Face ID or interacted with a chatbot, you’ve interacted with artificial intelligence (AI).There are a lot of ongoing AI developments, most of which are divided into different types. These classifications reveal more of a storyline than a taxonomy, one that can tell us......
What is ‘Monetary Policy’
Monetary policy involves actions by a country’s central bank to manage the money supply to promote economic growth and stability. Key strategies include adjusting interest rates and bank reserve requirements, aiming for high employment while controlling inflation. ...
PODCAST: Bloomberg Masters In Business: Citi Wealth’s Kate Moore
Barry speaks with Kate Moore, chief investment officer at Citi Wealth. They discuss Kate’s extensive and diverse career which saw her as Head of Thematic Strategy and a portfolio manager for the Global Allocation Fund at BlackRock, and stops at JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Moore Capital and......
How to Put Development Finance Back on Track
As the global gap between rich and poor countries continues to widen, one out of every three countries in the world is spending more repaying creditors than on health or education. Overhauling the global financial and sovereign-debt architecture has become an urgent priority – both morally and economically....
Why AI Literacy Is Essential For Success In An AI-Driven Economy
While students across America master algebra and essay writing, they’re graduating without understanding the technology that’s reshaping every industry. Artificial intelligence now powers everything from customer service chatbots to medical diagnoses, yet most high schools treat AI literacy as optional—if they address it at all....
Poorest Countries and Fragile States Are Increasingly Falling Behind
Support for developing countries should focus on grants and highly concessional loans for the poorest and fragile countries and helping the more advanced crowd in foreign investment and private finance...
The Sources of Global Economic Uncertainty
Beyond short-term market swings, deeper structural shifts could reshape the global economy, potentially upending corporate strategies and undermining long-term growth. The business leaders and investors most likely to succeed will be those who grasp the far-reaching implications of economic and geopolitical trends....
PODCAST: Why More Workers Are Putting in Extra Hours After the Workday
Thanks to a growing number of meetings, messages, and actual work, more employees are finding it difficult to log off after regular work hours. Wall Street Journal reporter Ray A. Smith joins host Ariana Aspuru to discuss how to get your time back....
Economy: What It Is, Types of Economies, Economic Indicators
An economy is a complex system of consumers, businesses, and governments that produce, consume, and distribute goods and services, combining to fulfill the needs of those living and operating within it.An economy can encompass a nation, a region, a single industry, or even just one family....
What It Means to Build Local AI
The rapid adoption of US-made, Anglophone large language models has led developers in Southeast Asia to focus on building AI tools that can speak to the region in its own words. But creating truly local AI models also means capturing the deep cultural and historical nuances that have been encoded......
PODCAST: Can anything stop the US economy?
A lot of people are worried about the Middle East, but markets are doing just fine. Today on the show, Rob Armstrong and Aiden Reiter talk about why investors are buying US again — and whether that will end badly. Also, they go long exotic fruits and the perennial Citigroup......
Climate Change and Economic Growth
The complex and multifaceted relationship between climate change and economic development has garnered significant attention in recent years. As the global economy continues to grow, it is becoming increasingly clear that the impacts of climate change pose a substantial threat to sustainable development....
Explainer: How the IMF Finances Itself and Why it Matters for the Global Economy
Countries can count their contributions to the IMF as their own reserve assets under a unique funding model that does not require budget appropriations or any other taxpayer support...
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that uses natural language processing to create humanlike conversational dialogue. The language model can respond to questions and compose various written content, including articles, social media posts, essays, code and emails....
AT1: Investors’ Risky Bets that Keep the Banks Running (by Hayk Khekoyan)
When you hear the word CoCo you probably think of a leather bag with the famous Chanel logo on it, or the 2017 critically acclaimed and commercially successful animated movie of the same name. What you probably do not think about is a complex financial instrument, created with the purpose......
Is Artificial Intelligence Going to Replace Us All? (by Hayk Khekoyan)
Nowadays it seems borderline impossible to spend even a few hours without coming across the subject of “Artificial Intelligence”. There is just way too much talk, hype, arguments, doomsday prophecies or bold optimistic statements on how this or that technological advancement or tool, or AI in general is going to......
Did the 2022 World Cup Really Cost More than All the Previous Ones Combined? (by Hayk Khekoyan)
As the World Cup final is played in Lusail, a city that did not even exist a few years ago, Qatar 2022 will go down in the history books for many reasons, not all of them exactly football‑related. Nothing in the world exists as a separate entity in a vacuum:......
The Growing Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Business (by Hayk Khekoyan)
These days it is borderline impossible to spend a day in the business world without hearing the phrase “emotional intelligence”, its abbreviation “EI” or the closely related term “EQ” (emotional quotient, similar to intelligence quotient colloquially known as IQ). While the concept of emotional intelligence is becoming increasingly prevalent throughout......
The Streaming Wars: Part 2 (by Hayk Khekoyan)
Last year I wrote about the so-called “Streaming Wars”. This term is used to describe the process of the rising number of streaming video on demand (VOD) services from all sorts of corporations trying to position themselves in an ever-growing and yet such a tight market. The world is a......
Working Less or Working Smarter and Better? (by Hayk Khekoyan)
Work less, earn more. That is the plan for most people. Barring the rare cases of people actually loving their work, for most of us a job is simply a means to survive. If you haven’t won the genetic lottery to be born into outrageous wealth, just staying alive requires......
To the Moon or to the Ground? The Jury is Still Out on Bitcoin (by Hayk Khekoyan)
Bitcoin is back. Back to inexplicably losing more than half of its value in six months, back to being one of the biggest controversies in the world, but definitely not back to its all-time highs of more than $60,000 achieved twice during 2021. “When you find yourself in a hole,......
How to Increase Savings in Armenia (by Alexandra Ouzounian from The Pingry School, New Jersey)
Financial literacy is broadly defined as an individual’s financial knowledge and ability to use financial tools to execute his or her financial goals. The people of Armenia demonstrate a level of financial literacy (Figure 1) and gross savings rate (Figure 2) that is lower than the average financial literacy of......
Personal data protection: EU perspective (by Diana Javadyan)
Nowadays, more than ever, data protection issues are actual and crucial in terms of both data protection standard setting and data protection standard implementation. Recent Fintech developments, e-communities, artificial intelligence application and other technological advancements throughout the world bring up the need of robust data protection framework and protected data......
The Streaming Wars that will Shape the Future of Entertainment (by Hayk Khekoyan)
When the CEOs of Netflix and Blockbuster met in the distant year 2000 to discuss a merger between the two, Netflix was a 3-year-old company valuing itself at a measly $50 mln compared to Blockbuster’s market capitalization of around $5 bln (Sloan, 2020). Perhaps, having taken note of the phrase......
Why You Should Consider Learning Cybersecurity (by Hayk Khekoyan)
3.12 million. This is the estimated number of cybersecurity specialists needed globally as cyberattacks around the world keep growing in both frequency and magnitude (Duffy, 2021). The last few months alone have seen some of the biggest security breaches in history, more on which later. The most important development in the......
Will Energy Ever Be the Same Again? (by Hayk Khekoyan)
As recently as the year 2013, the largest publicly traded corporation in the world was an oil company. Exxon Mobil had a market capitalization well north of $400 bln at the time, which was quite the feat considering there were no trillion-dollar companies in the world yet. Fast forward......
A Possible Future of Money (by Hayk Khekoyan)
If you have not spent the last few years in a cave or on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the words cryptocurrency or digital currency should sound familiar. I will not pretend to know or try to explain all the details of the technology behind Bitcoin,......
The Simple, Yet Quite Complex Global Issue (by Hayk Khekoyan)
For almost a week in the end of March one of the most important marine routes of the world was blocked by a giant vessel, approximately matching in size with New York’s famous Empire State Building. It took almost another week after the vessel was removed for the traffic jam......
The Consequences of the Mass Investment Platforms (by Hayk Khekoyan)
By January 11 not as many people had heard about the American company Gamestop as they have today. As of January 11 Gamestop cost around 1.5 billion USD and was a network of computer games and electronics’ stores situated in several states of the USA as well as in a......
Why We Need Governments (by Hayk Khekoyan)
The man regarded as the father of economics devoted a great deal of time and a big chunk of his work talking about how free markets produce the best outcomes for everyone involved. Adam Smith, in his book “The Wealth of Nations”, told us about the invisible hand that guides......