By Capitalist Exploits. Maitre D’: “And finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint.” Mr Creosote: “No.” Maitre D’: “Oh, sir! It’s only a tiny little thin one.” Mr Creosote: “No. F**k off. I’m full…” [Belches]Maitre D’: “Oh, sir… it’s only wafer thin.” Mr Creosote: “Look – I couldn’t eat another thing. I’m absolutely stuffed. Bugger off.” Maitre D’: “Oh, sir, just… just one…” Mr… Continue Reading
GUEST POST: The economics of warfare have changed
By Capitalist Exploits. Economists measure economic variables. That’s a problem. Continue Reading
Sberbank to stay out of Crimea, CEO reiterates
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank’s chief executive recently again excluded the possibility of Russia’s biggest lender establishing any presence in Crimea in the foreseeable future. Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital – May 2017 Newsletter
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing. – Warren Buffet AFC Funds Performance Summary May 2017 was characterized by a strong performance for emerging markets and for a number of frontier markets in our universe as well. Developed markets were also mainly positive with the S&P 500 Index up +1.2%, though the Nikkei… Continue Reading
GUEST POST: Ten things to consider for real estate investment
By Joanne Davidson.* Investing your money into real estate could be exciting, but if you’re new to the game, proceed with caution. If you get things right, you could hit the jackpot, but if you don’t think things through, you could face a lot of losses. Properties usually cost around six digits. Before you invest… Continue Reading
Russia’s CarMoney fintech lender reports fast business growth
By Andrei Skvarsky. CarMoney, a Russian online retail provider of loans secured on motor vehicles, has reported rapid business growth for the little more than a year it has existed as a rebranded company. Continue Reading
GUEST ARTICLE: The Pros and Cons of Investing In Property in the UK
By Maise Hunns, a British journalist specialising in business, property and financial advisement.* Investing in property is always a gamble but there are pros and cons to everything. So if you’re thinking of investing in commercial property in Peterborough or anywhere else in the UK, there are a number of things you need to consider first. Continue Reading
Never too early to get your children involved in family business – US-based consultant
In this interview, Veronica Yepez,* founder of Perpetum Consulting, a California-based consultancy serving high net worth families in Latin America and the United States, argues on the basis of her experience of more than 15 years that a child can really never be too young to get involved in a family business. This interview transcript… Continue Reading
London forum to look for ways for retail banks to survive competition with fintechs
Financial technology (fintech) companies, even startups, are a major threat to retail banks as they can lend more cheaply, easily and quickly. Ways for traditional retail lending to keep its ground will be examined at the Lending Products in Retail Banking conference in London on June 19-20, 2017. Continue Reading
Ex-Barclay IT manager takes the helm of deVere Vault fintech bank
By Andrei Skvarsky. deVere Group, a global financial consultancy, has hired Donatas Kontrimas from Barclays as chief executive of the deVere Vault bank, a global e-money app it launched on April 10. Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange happy with its 2016 record
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow Exchange, the company managing Russia’s main securities, money and precious metals exchange, has expressed satisfaction with its own corporate performance last year and with the volumes of trade it hosted in 2016. Continue Reading
Vienna risk management forum to look into Brexit, CEE risks, cybersecurity
With Brexit being a serious challenge to bankers, the extensive agenda of this September’s planned 7th Annual Risk Management Forum in Vienna includes a session on what the conference organisers describe as a “new generation of risks” posed by Britain’s planned 2019 secession from the European Union. Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital (AFC) – March 2017 Newsletter
March 2017 was generally a mixed month for world markets with some markets giving back part of their gains from earlier this year, including the Dow Jones Index (−0.7%), the Nikkei 225 (−1.1%), and the Shanghai Composite Index (−0.6%). In contrast, other markets continued ahead, such as the Euro Stoxx 50 Index which rose by… Continue Reading
European payments forum to discuss fintech, blockchains, Brexit
A debate on whether banks should fight or cooperate with financial technology (fintech) and blockchain technology news are some of the hot points on the programme of the planned 4th Annual European Payments Forum in Vienna on September 14-15, 2017. Continue Reading
Sberbank hires ex-Alfa-Bank investment chief to run international business
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has hired a former chief of the investment arm of Russia’s Alfa-Bank, Igor Kolomeysky, to head Sberbank International, the unit that oversees the largest Russian lender’s business in 16 countries, employs more than 27,000 people and has about 15m clients. Continue Reading
ITI Group buys UK brokerage from Russia’s Uralsib financial corporation
By Andrei Skvarsky. ITI Group, an emerging markets brokerage focusing on technology and algorithmic trading, has bought a London-based brokerage from Russian financial corporation Uralsib. Continue Reading
Investors may find good opportunities in Commonwealth countries post-Brexit – adviser
By Andrei Skvarsky. A British investment adviser argues that Brexit could involve good investment opportunities in Commonwealth countries because “it’s a certainty” that Britain will seek more extensive trade with Commonwealth nations when it leaves the European Union. Continue Reading
Ex-SocGen banker hired to oversee Sberbank CIB sales to financial institutions
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has hired ex-Societe Generale banker Alexei Poliakov to head the unit at its corporate and investment arm, Sberbank CIB, for sales of fixed-income instruments and derivatives to financial institutions in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Continue Reading
More Russians, CIS nationals invest in real estate abroad – Tranio broker
By Andrei Skvarsky. A 2016 survey by Moscow-based property broker Tranio suggests that, among Russians and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nationals buying real estate abroad, the proportion of those doing this as a form of investment has grown significantly since 2014. Continue Reading
Britain may have to pay $62bn ‘divorce bill’ to EU – BBC
By Andrei Skvarsky. The actual process of Brexit, triggered on March 29, may cost Britain up to 50bn pounds ($62bn), BBC has cited “some reports” as saying, though the British government has denied the cost of leaving the European Union will be so high. Continue Reading
Ukraine central bank asks police to shield sanctioned Russian-controlled banks from riots
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Ukrainian central bank has urged the police to make nationalist rioters stop forcibly disrupting the business of Ukrainian outlets of Russian state-controlled banks that have had sanctions imposed on them by Kiev for alleged support for Ukraine’s Moscow-backed separatist industrial east, and to prevent them from vandalising the lenders’ offices. Continue Reading
Apartment rents in Dubai, Abu Dhabi keep going down – Bayut
By Andrei Skvarsky. Last year’s decline in apartment rents in Dubai and Abu Dhabi has overall continued into 2017, though there were minor rises in January and February, according to Dubai-based real estate portal and private company Bayut.com, which argues that the real estate markets in both cities are by and large doing well. Continue Reading
Two Sberbank employees accused of stealing $700K from customer
By Andrei Skvarsky. Two Moscow-based employees of the customer service of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, are accused of stealing 40m roubles ($700,000) from one of the bank’s clients. Continue Reading
Bryn Mawr Trust CIO talks about Trump-era investment landscape
The US presidential and congressional elections ushered in a new set of variables for investors to consider, according to Ernest E. Cecilia, CFA, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust and a speaker at the marcus evans Private Wealth Management Summit Spring 2017, taking place at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grand Lakes, in Florida on June 4-6. In this environment,… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Sun Global chief says US shale oil a threat to OPEC influence
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sun Global Investments chief executive Mihir Kapadia argues that the current decline in the oil price is largely the result of growing shale oil production in the United States and that the US shale industry’s performance may undermine the influence of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital (AFC) – February 2017 Newsletter
“While it might seem that anyone can be a value investor, the essential characteristics of this type of investor – patience, discipline, and risk aversion – may well be genetically determined.” – Seth Andrew Klarman is an American value investor, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, in the hedge fund manager hall of fame, and founder of… Continue Reading
China finance minister says govt debt risks under control
By Andrei Skvarsky. China’s finance minister has put the total debt ratio of the country’s central and local governments at 36.7 per cent, arguing that this level is not high and will not change much by the end of 2017, that government debt risks are controllable, and that the government still has room for borrowing. Continue Reading
Top diplomat raps US bill to put Russia under ‘something like an economic blockade’
By Andrei Skvarsky. In a fresh sign of waning hopes in Moscow of a rapprochement with the United States, a top Russian diplomat has slammed “ill-wishers” in the US Congress for a plan to put Russia under “something like an economic blockade”. Continue Reading
Yandex.Money, payment service co-owned by Sberbank, changes chief exec
By Andrei Skvarsky. Yandex.Money, a key Russian online payment service co-owned by Russia’s biggest lender, Sberbank, has hired Ivan Glazachev, a former top manager at Russian Standard Bank, as its chief executive. Continue Reading