International Finance

Category : Finance

European SMEs’ struggle to raise equity capital

There is general lack of awareness about the various sources of funding Rick Watson November 5, 2015: Small and medium-sized European businesses find it hard to raise capital, especially during their development phase. This column compares the situation in the US and Europe and suggests that many SMEs in Europe still face significant difficulties in...

The treatment of qard in takaful

The operator plays an important role that the management of a conventional mutual does not in the event of a periodic deficit Camille Paldi November 5, 2015: Takaful or Islamic insurance is a booming industry around the world. In fact, many Western insurance companies already engage in the takaful business in the Middle East and...

UK’s first-ever peer-to-peer SIPP launched

UK’s first-ever peer-to-peer SIPP launched. Abundance to address current hurdles stopping many people from investing more towards their retirement October 20, 2015: Abundance – the ethical P2P investment platform – has launched the UK’s first-ever peer-to-peer investment SIPP, called ‘the Abundance Pension’, to address head-on the current concerns stopping more people from saving adequately towards...

Emerging economy corporate debt: The threat to financial stability

Viral Acharya, Stephen Cecchetti, José De Gregorio, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, Philip R. Lane, Ugo Panizza Emerging market firms have borrowed in foreign currency to take advantage of low interest rates October 5, 2015: This column argues that when the Fed inevitably raises rates, such borrowing will be a threat to emerging economy financial systems. Yet so...

eMoov crowdfunding raises over £2m

The figure continues to rise with further VC investments coming in October 2, 2015: Episode 1 Ventures and Maxfield Capital Partners have both increased their investment in eMoov, with the online estate agency receiving fresh capital from Swiss venture capital firm Startive Ventures. eMoov launched the fundraising campaign on the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube on September 1 and has since raised over £2.27m against an initial...

HNWIs wealth to reach $1.4 trillion by 2019 in Hong Kong

International Finance Desk
Though world market conditions aren’t good, Hong Kong is attractive to local developers as well as foreign institutions September 30, 2015: The Hong Kong Wealth Report 2015 wealth management market research says number of Hong Kong HNWIs is forecast to grow by 15.6%, to reach 231,186 in 2019, while HNWI wealth is projected to grow...

Oman wants to increase success rate of SMEs

International Finance Desk
Over 50% fail within five years, which is a drag on efforts by the Gulf nation to diversify its oil & gas based economy IFM Correspondent September 15, 2015: The two-day Oman SME Summit in Muscat got off to a rousing start with a welcome speech and special address by His Highness Al Sayyid Dr. Adham...

Life insurance not on the priority list of Americans

Only 51% Americans own life insurance September 3, 2015: Only 51% of Americans own life insurance, and a primary reason is that it’s a product that remains highly misunderstood.  This is the latest finding from Northwestern Mutual’s 2015 Planning & Progress Study. This annual study exploring Americans’ attitude and behaviour towards finances and planning reveals that one of...

Murray makes investments on crowdfunding platform

Has invested undisclosed amount in three companies August 19, 2015: Tennis champion and world number two Andy Murray announced that he has made multiple investments on Seedrs, the largest equity crowdfunding platform in Europe. Murray, who joined the Seedrs advisory board in June, identified three British businesses he wanted to back on the crowdfunding platform,...