CAN CROWDFUNDING AND MINI BONDS WORK IN HARMONY

The mini-bond market is set to boom, according to figures from Capita Registrars, which suggest it could grow to £1 billion this year and to a staggering £8 billion over the next five years, as investors increasingly look to put their money into them.

Mini bonds are becoming especially popular with growth companies, as well as more established brands, as a way of securing growth finance without having to go to the banks.  They give customers the opportunity to give something back by investing in their favourite brands, while securing their future growth and success.

Hotel Chocolat, one example of a company that has used mini bonds to great effect, raised money to expand its farm in the Caribbean and its range in its shops, and when the Jockey Club needed funds, it launched a bond, raising almost £25m – far exceeding its initial target of £15m.

INDUSTRY UNPREPARED FOR THE NEW WORLD OF OTC DERIVATIVES TRADING

It is still early days in the trading of over the counter (OTC) derivatives on swap execution facilities (SEFs) and organised trading facilities (OTFs). Even though it has been over four years since the G20 first proposed initiatives to mitigate systemic risk and promote transparency in the global OTC derivatives market, practitioners believe the industry is still in the throes of a revolution and remains unprepared to face a rapidly evolving marketplace. 

 

The Dodd-Frank Act in the US and European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) in Europe represent a paradigm shift in the global financial regulatory environment. The impact of these regulations is being felt around the world, particularly the mandate of executing all derivatives subject to a clearing obligation on a regulated market, SEF or OTF. This is a significant change as it is one that alters how the market operates as well as how market participants conduct business.

U.S. FINANCIAL MARKETS: BOTH LAGGARDS AND TRENDSETTERS

U.S. capital markets typically define how the rest of the world markets operate; more financial investments are made in the U.S. than in any other country. But this supremacy hasn’t always translated to leading business and technology practices. There are situations where U.S. markets are lagging behind or have operated with known issues, and it’s important to understand where the pitfalls are/were:  

 

Decimalisation of stocks – Unlike other markets, U.S. stocks were quoted in fractions (e.g. price of stock XYU is $4 1/16 instead of $4.18) instead of decimals until 2001.  A quote in fractions results in market inefficiency, higher costs and price manipulation.  

TRADE FINANCE: THE KEY TO UNLOCKING GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH

Vincent O’Brien, Chair of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) Banking Commission’s Market Intelligence Group, discusses the findings of the two recent ICC reports: Global Survey 2014 – Rethinking Trade and Finance and the Trade Register Report 2014.  The ICC has long been an advocate of trade finance as a means to unlocking global economic growth. Our two most recent reports have, however, added fuel to our fire with respect to providing useable data that both the market and policy-makers can use when assessing the impact of trade finance.

Together, the Global Survey 2014: Rethinking Trade and Finance (the “Survey”) and the Trade Register Report 2014 (the “Register”), form a powerful body of work for the ICC’s advocacy of trade finance as a low risk financing technique, aimed at fostering global economic growth.

FOREX TRADING FOUNDATIONS: MANAGING MONEY AND RISK

To mark Admiral Market’s first birthday, Chris explains the importance of clear money and risk management in a trader’s first 12 months.

Profitability within the first year of Forex trading is a realistic and attainable target for novice retail traders. But this outcome is dependant on many different factors. As an education Forex strategist, there is one aspect of trading which many beginners fail to develop: a professional money and risk management strategy.

It sounds daunting, but developing these systems and strategies is much easier than one might think. Those traders who take the time to develop a methodology of protecting their capital are demonstrating one key trait which separates the winners and losers in Forex trading. It’s called ‘professionalism’. Those who treat Forex as their profession always do better than those who dedicate no time to performing the basics competently.

BANKING TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTS BUILDING SOCIETY GROWTH

From my unique vantage point of serving both UK building societies and European banks, I can see that societies typically differ from banks in the way they approach technology. Traditionally, mutuals have been very good at maintaining solid and reliable systems to underpin their core business. But where building societies have scored less highly to date compared to banks, arguably, is in using technology to drive innovation.

 

It hasn’t always been this way: Nottingham was one of the first users of e-banking in the world, but it does seem to be the general rule of thumb that this side of the UK financial services market has been slow to use technology as aggressively as their banking counterparts. The opportunity for societies over the months ahead is to redress that balance – not so much by following where banks have gone before them, but in delivering the most appropriate experiences for their own customers both retail and intermediary, so that everyone continues to deliver growth.

WHY BIG DATA IS DRIVING THE INSURANCE SECTOR TO THE CLOUD

market to expand at a compound annual growth rate of more than 31 per cent to be worth nearly $24 billion in 2016, it is important that businesses understand that to unlock the true potential of big data they need to implement a cloud strategy first.

 

 

It is clear that a growing number of business leaders are turning to the cloud to help gain a competitive edge for their organisations as well as looking for new and efficient ways of working. In 2013 a study by KPMG study revealed that the use of cloud dominated boardroom planning, with  42 per cent of UK organisations revealing that at least one-fifth of their total IT spend in the next 12 months would focus on cloud services. However while the business benefits of moving to the cloud may be clear for many, insurers are finding the challenge of marrying data, security and the cloud a tricky one.