Yes, government bond yields around the world are plummeting to all-time lows. Â They’re falling through the floor as investors realise the global economy is about as close to the drain as it’s been even through the “Global Financial Crisis”. What do you mean “what about Greece and Spain”? Government bond yields are plummeting everywhere except…
Bitcoins are a bad idea. Â I’ve put this forward from multiple directions already. What’s interesting is the range of new, government-sponsored digital currencies that are in development. Digital currencies might also be a little bit of a stretch, they’re still more like digital payment methods. Unlike Bitcoins, there is much to recommend about low-cost, high-security,…
Greece is the canary. Europe is the coal mine. One voice calling it yellow and black.
Seems like the SARB is requiring South African banks to adopt Basel III (or the tweaks to Basel II that people are calling Basel III) in line with international developments. Meanwhile, it seems the FSB is still committed to a 2014 deadline for SAM. Given the range and size of stumbling blocks still to be…
Great piece outlining the very real, very possible and very very awful possibilities and implications of Italian default. I wouldn’t want anything to do with any bank that has much at all to do with European banks or European sovereign debt. The old South African Rand is seeming like a safer relative bet than at…
So European politicians have more or less agreed a deal which may, more or less, push some of their problems to one side for a period. Yes, I’m not madly optimistic about this as a cure-all. Â This is not the end of the Euro problems. Part of the deal is a “50% loss for private…
Banks are threatening to pull out of the Financial Services Charter, apparently due to impracticalities of complying given international regulatory developments one of the one hand and the irrelevance of complying through the advances of technology on the other.
This is really fantastic news. Â The Swazi King is apparently reluctant to accept the loan from South Africa because of the conditions imposed in the agreement. I was quite harsh in criticising the granting of the loan with only conditions for improvement far down the line. Â (I still believe the first condition should be an…
