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......
Fed Set to Drive Global Rate Cuts as Europe Shifts to Pause – Bloomberg
The Federal Reserve and global peers appear set to keep cutting interest rates in the remainder of this year, carrying on where much of Europe has left off. That’s what Bloomberg Economics envisages, with reductions in borrowing costs predicted for 15 major central banks out of the 23 featured in......
Credit markets look increasingly dangerous – The Economist
Mention 2007 to a group of professional investors, and watch them bristle. The year was a bad one. It marked the end of the great moderation—a long period of low inflation and steady economic growth that began in the 1980s—and the start of strains in credit markets which became the......
European private capital firms target €17bn in data centre deals – The Financial Times
Private capital firms are seeking to cash in on the US-driven artificial intelligence boom, launching €17bn of European data centre sales in a matter of weeks. Oaktree Capital Management has started a process to offload part of its European and Middle Eastern data centre business Pure DC, which is valued......
Why Corporate Bonds Are on a Tear – WSJ
Think stocks are hot? Try corporate bonds.The S&P 500 hit its 31st record of 2025 on Friday, but the enthusiasm for companies’ bonds could be even more remarkable. By one measure, Wall Street is less worried about highly rated businesses getting downgraded or defaulting on their debt than at any......
Rich World Puts Its Public-Finance Quagmire on Show – Bloomberg
Advanced economies from the US to France may unleash more political theater on financial markets in the coming week, with no sign of resolution in sight over their swelling debts. In a light period for major central bank decisions and economic data, fiscal and governmental dysfunction across much of the......
Private Equity Is Coming to Your 401(k). Should You Buy In? – WSJ
With private-equity funds on their way into workplace retirement plans, savers face a choice that matters: Are they worth adding to my portfolio? Private-equity firms buy companies, often using borrowed money, with the goal of fixing them up and selling them later at a profit. The model has generated outsize......
Why America Needs to Restore Its ‘Essential Economy’ and Embrace AI – Bloomberg
The US auto industry is suffering whiplash from government policy: First pushed to go all in on electric vehicles by the Biden administration only to have the Trump administration reverse course by eliminating those EV tax credits this week....
Labour markets stuck in a ‘low-hire, low-fire’ cycle – The Financial Times
Labour markets in many leading economies are freezing up as uncertainty over trade, tax and artificial intelligence causes employers to put off hiring and firing and employees to stick with their jobs. Employment grew at an annualised rate of just 0.5 per cent in the US and 0.4 per cent......
The Best Way to Invest in Bitcoin Without Actually Buying Cryptocurrency – WSJ
Many investors want to hold the cryptocurrencies bitcoin or ether without the hassle of holding the cryptocurrency, which can be lost or stolen. If so, they have a few fund options to consider: crypto trusts, strategy exchange-traded funds and spot ETFs....
Fed’s Logan Signals Inflation Is Top Issue, Urges Rate Caution – Bloomberg
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan said the US central bank is further away from its inflation target than it is from the maximum employment goal, and reiterated that officials should move cautiously with interest-rate reductions....
Stock Funds Hold a 11% Gain for 2025 So Far – WSJ
Is it time for fund investors to do a home-run trot yet? With stock indexes smashing records, the average U.S.-stock fund rose 7.2% in the third quarter, to push the year-to-date gain to nearly 11%, according to LSEG data. Those are gaudy numbers for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds compared......
Visa bets on stablecoins to speed up cross-border payments – Reuters
Visa (V.N) said on Tuesday it will start testing a new way for businesses to fund international payments by allowing them to use stablecoins instead of pre-depositing cash in local accounts.The move signals growing acceptance of these digital tokens among major businesses, who have been emboldened by the United States......
Shadow banks are not outside the banking system – The Financial Times
Good morning. ADP’s private payroll report landed with a splat, showing a loss of 32,000 jobs. There are always complaints about the reliability of the ADP numbers, but tough luck: until the end of the government shutdown, there will be no payroll reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics....
As stock market booms, Americans have more at stake than ever – The Washington Post
Americans have a greater share of their resources in the stock market than ever before, driving a historic accumulation of wealth that also leaves more individual investors exposed to the market’s ups and downs.Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend....
The eccentric investment strategy that beats the rest – The Economist
One tendency veteran money-managers often share is a high tolerance for cognitive dissonance. This is because without it their job would be a nightmare. Clients know that outsize returns come from taking risks, and want them to do so, but then balk when they lose money. Research is essential for......
Crypto Stockpiling Craze Cools After Red-Hot Summer – WSJ
Companies that pivoted to crypto-buying strategy have slowed purchases. Many have seen shares drop.The hot crypto-treasury summer is over.More than 200 companies went all-in on stockpiling digital currencies this year. Many investors are already cooling to the idea....
Global Chipmakers Add $200 Billion in Record Rally on AI Frenzy – Bloomberg
Global chipmakers saw their market value soar as investors rushed to get exposure to artificial intelligence, the latest sign of a frenetic bull run that is pushing tech stocks to all-time highs. The sector is being swept up by a wave of good news from AI companies, including ChatGPT-owner OpenAI’s......
Eurozone inflation rises to 2.2% in September – The Financial Times
Eurozone inflation rose to 2.2 per cent in September, the first time it has gone above the European Central Bank’s 2 per cent target since April. Wednesday’s flash estimate of the annual inflation figure for September was in line with the 2.2 per cent forecast by economists in a Reuters......
UK business confidence falls to record low amid rising employment costs – The Guardian
Business confidence fell to its lowest level on record in September, driven by concerns over soaring costs, according to a survey of bosses. Topping the unease were labour costs, with energy prices also weighing on the outlook.Anna Leach, the chief economist at the Institute of Directors (IoD), said: “Business confidence......
OpenAI Launches Video Generator App to Rival TikTok and YouTube – WSJ
OpenAI is squaring up to TikTok, Google’s YouTube and Meta Platforms with a new social-media app for its AI video generator that allows users to create high-definition video clips with audio from text prompts. Users can upload short clips of themselves and insert them into Sora-generated worlds, describing the idea,......
Explainer: Five Megatrends Shaping the Rise of Nonbank Finance
The global financial crisis of 2008 froze the financial system. Banks pulled back credit, families tightened their belts and companies laid off workers. It was a frightening time for everyone, and an extremely difficult moment for the financial services industry....
PODCATS: Human resources: finding the world’s hidden talent
Ahandpicked article read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. Across the world, people with immense talent are unable to realise their potential due to circumstance. Efforts to find and develop such geniuses would have benefits for everyone....
Capital Allocation Definition
Capital allocation is about where and how a corporation’s chief executive officer (CEO) decides to spend the money that the company has earned. Capital allocation means distributing and investing a company’s financial resources in ways that will increase its efficiency, and maximize its profits....
Solana (SOL) Explained: Fast Transactions and Low Costs
Solana as an innovative blockchain platform that supports scalable and decentralized applications.It was developed by Solana Labs, founded by Anatoly Yakovenko, and is governed by the Solana Foundation. Solana’s dual consensus mechanism of proof-of-stake and proof-of-history allows for high transaction throughput. It has transaction speed and cost advantages over competitors......
PODCAST: Why technological progress is so hard to predict: podcast
New inventions often cause great excitement yet can take years to catch on. In this episode of The Big View podcast, Peter Thal Larsen talks to Carl Benedikt Frey of Oxford University about the erratic history of technology – and what it tells us about artificial intelligence....
AI Must Not Ignore Human Rights
As US tech companies ramp up their international dealmaking, with strong backing from the Trump administration, safeguards to ensure that investments and business practices do not violate human rights are nowhere to be found. Will America abandon its core principles in the name of “winning the AI race”?...
ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to supercharge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth with 300 million weekly active users....
Economies of Scale: What Are They and How Are They Used?
Economies of scale represent the potential benefits of having a larger operation. In theory, larger operations are able to increase production, buy higher quantities of goods in bulk, and rely on process efficiencies. When these benefits are captured, it is said that a company is capitalizing on economies of scale......
Seemingly Conscious AI Is Coming
Debates about whether AI truly can be conscious are a distraction. What matters in the near term is the perception that they are – and why the temptation to design AI systems that foster this perception must be resisted....
PODCAST: Buyout burnout: how much trouble is private equity really in?
All is not well in private-equity land. Funds are struggling to flip businesses profitably. Deal volumes have slumped. And new capital has become harder to raise. Does that mean the corporate raiders have had their day?...
5 Things You Shouldn’t Do During a Recession
In a sluggish economy or an outright recession, it’s best to watch your spending and not take undue risks that could put your financial well-being and goals in jeopardy. Below are several specific financial risks that you should avoid taking during a recession....
PODCAST: Human ChatGPT: putting Tyler Cowen to the test
Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics who has been described as “the man who wants to know everything”. He is Silicon Valley’s favourite economist—but his interests extend far beyond AI into the realms of art, literature and food. Alice visited him at his home in Virginia to find out......
Gemini tops the App Store thanks to new AI image model, Nano Banana
Gemini’s mobile adoption has been soaring since the August launch of its Nano Banana image editor model, which has received positive reviews, particularly from users who say they can now more easily perform complex edits and create realistic images....
How America Could Lead the Next Era of Digital Innovation
As the gatekeepers for the mobile app market, Apple and Google have amassed significant, persistent market power with which to extract monopoly rents from consumers and business users. The sooner that lawmakers and regulators address these barriers to competition (and thus innovation), the better for everyone....
What are interest rates?
If you are borrowing money, the interest rate (or lending rate) is the amount you are charged for doing so – shown as a percentage of the total amount of the loan. The higher the percentage, the more you must pay back. If you are a saver, the interest rate......
PODCAST: Could AI ever replace the news?
In December 2023, a video was posted on X that generated a lot of attention. Gaining more than five million views in 24 hours, it showed a team of AI-generated TV anchors flawlessly delivering the day’s top headlines....
Global Debt Remains Above 235% of World GDP
Global debt has stabilized, though it remains at an elevated level, as a continued reduction in private-sector lending offset greater borrowing by governments. Total debt was little changed last year, just above 235 percent of global gross domestic product, according to the latest update of the IMF’s Global Debt Database....
How Stablecoins and Other Financial Innovations May Reshape the Global Economy
Policymakers will need to achieve a difficult balance between benefits and risks while safeguarding both individual consumers and financial stability...
PODCAST: How the diamond industry lost its sparkle
The natural diamond industry is facing an existential threat: lab-grown diamonds. They’re chemically and physically identical to natural stones, and they’re just a fraction of the price. ...
Equity: Meaning, How It Works, and How to Calculate It
In finance, equity refers to an ownership stake whose value is reduced by an associated debt. For homeowners, home equity refers to the value of a property minus the balance of any mortgages or debts....
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......