Analysis of the Week: Holding Interest?
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
On 4 November 2021, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was expected to announce a rise in interest rates. Instead, at the interest rate meeting on 2 November 2021, the vote was 7-2 to keep rates on...
Whistle Stop: CFTC Hands Record $200 Million Reward Under its Whistleblower Program
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
Last week, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) handed a record reward of $200 million under its Whistleblower Program. The sum recognised the “specific...
Analysis Of The Week: Not Such Grand Designs
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
It has been dubbed a “Lehman scale crisis” (Law.com). Evergrande, part of the Global 500 – one of the world’s biggest businesses by revenue – is “teetering on the brink of default, with more than $300bn of total...
Analysis Of The Week: Sex Discrimination in the Workplace
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
When estate agent Alice Thompson applied to her Mayfair-based employer for flexible working after the birth of her daughter in November 2018, her company boss refused. She had been earning around...
Analysis Of The Week: Tales of the Unexpected?
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
Netflix is having an expensive September. Just a few weeks ago, the streaming giant announced the acquisition of a long-term lease on Longcross Studios, owned by the investment branch of insurers Aviva. Now, in...
Chain Reaction: Global Supply Chain Issues Cause Havoc
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
“The supply shock that started in China [...] and the demand shock that followed as the global economy shut down exposed vulnerabilities in the production strategies and supply chains of firms just...
Playtime is Over: China Limits Video Games Usage
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
On 31 August 2021, a sweeping ban was introduced for anyone under 18 in China on playing video games during the school week. The ban limits children to one hour of playing time on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays...
Binance: Working Off The Books
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has reiterated its position on Binance Markets Limited (BML), the UK division of the Binance Group, for which it had issued a warning earlier in the summer.
On 25 June, the FCA had...
Analysis Of The Week: Banking Boom
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
The banking sector is booming. After an initial dip in the first quarter of 2021, Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and JP Morgan Chase (JPMC) all racked up their highest ever profits during the pandemic (Bloomberg)...
Analysis Of The Week: Archegos Capital Management
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
Last week on the back of a damning report on the biggest loss in its 165-year history, Credit Suisse (CS) was “rushing to overhaul its risk department, including rehiring on inflated salaries staff who have...
Analysis of The Week: An Opioid Epidemic
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provisional data showed 2020 was a record year for drug overdose deaths, with over 93,000 - up 29% from a year earlier.
"Our country's opioid epidemic is...
Analysis Of The Week: Toxic TokTik?
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
Tiktok, the social media juggernaut seemingly supercharged by worldwide lockdowns, is having a great year. According to Sensor Tower, “TikTok was the most downloaded and highest grossing non-game app globally in the first...
Analysis Of The Week: Pain at the Pump
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
“The last oil price boom may be in sight” predicted business advisory firm Boston Consulting Group in a recent paper (New York Times). The latest OPEC+ agreement, however, does not seem to be.
The OPEC+ (Oil Petroleum...
Analysis Of The Week: An Apple a Day No More?
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
On 23 June 2021, almost exactly a year after the introduction of the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL), Hong Kong’s most vocal pro-democracy newspaper, the 26-year-old Apple Daily, printed its final...
Coca-Cola: Bottling It?
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
As Portuguese football captain Cristiano Ronaldo sat down to speak to the media on the eve of the 15 June 2021 Group F opener in Budapest, he moved two Coca-Cola bottles aside, and said “agua” (water)*. The following day, French...
Analysis Of The Week: Data Disasters
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
Cyber attacks have been hitting headlines hard recently*.
In early June 2021, hackers accessed McDonald’s customers’ emails, delivery addresses and phone numbers in Taiwan and South Korea. The same breach allegedly...
Analysis Of The Week: The Housing Price Frenzy
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
Property prices have been experiencing a “market frenzy” worldwide (Bloomberg).
“British house prices rose by 10.9% in May compared with the same month last year” (Reuters), according to data from mortgage...
Analysis of the Week: Oil’s Black Wednesday
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
“Over the past decade, the Company has failed to evolve in a rapidly changing world… We believe that to address this underperformance, the Company must commit to evolve and chart a long-term strategic plan for...
Analysis Of The Week: China's Crypto Clampdown
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
Cryptocurrencies dropped like a stone on 19 May 2021, with Bitcoin falling from over $45,000 on Tuesday to $32,000 on Wednesday, in the wake of a clampdown in China.
A directive warned that “cryptocurrency...
Analysis of the Week: Enemies at the Gates: Bill and Melinda Announce Divorce
By Alison Catchpole
The Story
“Bill and Melinda Gates are divorcing,” American TV writer Gary Janetti posted on Instagram on 3 May 2021. “She gets California”.
Bill and Melinda have a joint estimated...
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