Explore the Category

A Summer of European Political Upheaval

15 September 2016 | General

The traditional summer lull for European financial markets was slow to arrive and quick to end this year, and we expect some of the developments that have taken place during the summer months could dominate the direction of markets for some time to come. In particular, the United Kingdom’s surprise vote in June in favour of Brexit meant that July, generally regarded as a quiet month for European markets, was unusually torrid for mainstream investors and investment professionals alike.

Emerging Markets still offering opportunities, despite risk of Fed hike, says Old Mutual Investment Group

14 September 2016 | General

Emerging markets are fast becoming the global drivers of growth, with early signs of the rotation already starting from Developed to Emerging Markets. This is according to the Old Mutual Investment Group (OMIG) quarterly media briefing where presenters said that, despite fears that a potential hike could reverse this most recent rally following Brexit, Emerging Markets will continue to offer opportunities based on a number of fundamentals such as low profit margins and undervalued currencies.

Negative Interest Rates: Not Without Consequences

12 September 2016 | Economy

While Fed policymakers have recently indicated a negative-rate policy isn’t a constructive option for the United States right now—and in fact, market observers expect the Fed to hike rates this year—there is growing concern regarding the pursuit of negative interest rates by central banks including the BOJ and the ECB and others in Europe. An important criticism of the low-rate environment we are in is that many people who want to save their money in a bank to gain interest wind up paying the price—particularly when inflation is factored in. Instead of earning interest on their deposits, they are essentially charged money to keep it in the bank!

The slow road to recovery for SA’s economy

12 September 2016 | Economy

This week marks the eighth anniversary of the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers. It was the largest bankruptcy on record – the bank had $690 billion in assets - and turned the one year-old credit crunch into a full-blown global financial crisis. With credit markets seizing up, especially interbank lending, the spill-over to the already declining US real economy was severe. Although the crisis was triggered in America, it spread worldwide, putting over-leveraged banking systems under tremendous pressure. Global flows of credit evaporated and the world economy went into a deep recession.

quick poll

Question

Do you think short-term insurance broking will survive the AI plus humanoid robotics age?

Answer

Human first always Not a chance Possibly maybe Yes, but reimagined

View the Results