Financial Markets

Assets that offer real opportunities for investors (and PRs)

As much as Donald Trump’s public relations faux pas regarding Gold Star parents has dominated the headlines, we must hope that the real focus will be on the more serious issues…

Brexit: how could it impact financial services?

In case you hadn’t noticed, on 23 June Britain is being given a vote on whether it wants to remain a member of the European Union. The In and Out camps are polling fairly evenly and either outcome seems possible. Naturally there’s bickering over what a Brexit would entail, but there seems to be…

Shrinking sell-side research: should we be concerned?

Cast your mind back to September 2008 and the implosion of the once mighty Lehman Brothers empire. Remember when Nomura swooped down on the smouldering remains to pick up the European and Asian operations for a relative song? This decisive and swift move was then widely feted as Nomura would be catapulted in an…

The Budget – communicating times of change

In 1947 Labour Chancellor Hugh Dalton made an off-the cuff remark to a lobby journalist from an evening paper (The Star in London, apparently) that there’d be a 1d (1 penny) tax on beer and some changes to dog racing tax, football pools and purchase tax. The journalist got the story into the Stop…

The sharpest PR tools in the ETF arena

All businesses face the same principal challenges – innovation and marketing. While it is important to develop great new products, it is also essential to tell your existing and potential customers about them. A good example of how pressing these two issues can be is found in the exchange traded fund/product (ETF/ETP) sector. ETFs/ETPs…

Solvency II-ish

Did you hear it? The deafening boom of Solvency II being implemented on January 1 2016. Given the near 15-year-long build up and the various aborted implementation dates – not to mention the billions spent on compliance – the fact that Europe’s re/insurance industry finally got over the Solvency II line should have resulted…

Looking to the year ahead

As the trains, tubes and buses start to fill up with returning workers; diets and ‘dry Januarys’ commence, once again our thoughts return to the world of work. Getting your brain back in to gear after a few day’s break always takes a day or two, (ahem…. ) Now that the series of team…

Thinking ahead

Heading towards Christmas means only one thing in PR. Actually, that’s not quite true, it means quite a few things such as client lunches; Christmas parties; the likelihood…

The issue of debt

Perhaps the most fundamental economic concern of the past decade or so has been debt. Personal, corporate and sovereign – debt was the weight that plunged the world into a global recession six years ago. And it remains as fundamental to the global narrative today as it did in 2008. The issue to hand is…

Financial Regulator Lays Down Social Guidelines

With digital/social media now becoming the leading choice in many cases for customer communications and specifically product promotions, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation paper to clarify its position on the subject. It is the second time the FCA has addressed this, having first published guidance in 2010.

The Rise of the Alternative Lender

The financial services industry has undergone considerable change since 2008 – both from a lending perspective and a regulatory standpoint. The overhaul of the financial watchdog has created more emphasis on capital buffers i.e. liquidity, and the part banks play in the global economy and ability to manage default risk. This increased regulatory scrutiny has…

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