Exchanges/Platforms

UK growth hinges on more than a new pension giant

19 Apr 2023

Low investment holds back Britain’s economy. To help, politicians and bankers want to consolidate the 2.2 trln pound retirement system into large, Canadian-style pools buying UK assets. Yet better taxes and planning, and more foreign money, would yield a happier ending.

Capital Calls: UnitedHealth, ETFs, Animal drugs

14 Apr 2023

Concise views global finance: Health insurer UnitedHealth continues to flex its muscles; Canada traps investors inside exchange-traded funds; private equity firm EQT buys into medicine for pets.

Bank health barometer could use own health warning

28 Mar 2023

Stock market investors interpreted last week’s jump in Deutsche Bank’s credit default swaps as a sign of distress. Yet thin trading in parts of the $12 trln market for speculating on creditworthiness can exaggerate moves. Add social media and it can feed self-fulfilling spirals.

Transatlantic valuation gap is mostly illusory

7 Mar 2023

Arm, CRH and Flutter may pursue US listings, while Shell mulled one. Since European stocks trade at a discount to the S&P 500, they might be hoping for a higher price. But the value chasm doesn’t hold for all sectors, and can be largely explained by differing growth rates.

Court dunk changes game for digital collectibles

28 Feb 2023

U.S. regulators didn’t say whether non-fungible tokens are financial securities before the $40 bln market swelled. Now it’s up to the courts. A judge’s ruling against fantasy basketball card developer Dapper Labs raises big risks for NFT companies. But there’s still no referee.

Euronext may have to dig deeper to snare Allfunds

22 Feb 2023

The 8 bln euro exchange offered 5.5 bln euros for the wealth technology group, the latest in a slew of deals. Boss Stéphane Boujnah would get much-needed diversification away from sluggish markets. Yet the price is not a knockout, and rivals like Deutsche Boerse could barge in.

Picking crypto exchange winner is a fool’s errand

22 Feb 2023

As questions about Binance mount, $15 bln Coinbase is benefiting. Despite swinging to a loss last quarter, its shares have doubled this year. If anything, it’ll be the smallest loser. The industry’s post-FTX fate increasingly rests with U.S. regulators, who are losing patience.

Robinhood’s Wall Street bets aren’t yet working

9 Feb 2023

As retail stock trading and crypto have withered, so have the online brokerage’s main sources of income. So it has slashed costs, and staff, and is aggressively launching new products. But for now, it’s rising interest rates – not happy customers – that are holding Robinhood up.

Three carry trades for a new monetary policy era

27 Jan 2023

Central banks’ moves mean that investors borrowing money in yen and placing it in U.S. assets – a once-popular “carry trade” – are no longer onto a sure-fire winner. They can do better by shorting the euro and investing in Mexico, Brazil or Hungary.

Capital Calls: Activism, Bond spat, Airline M&A

18 Jan 2023

Concise views on global finance: Aggressive shareholder campaigns picked up in 2022, but activism is becoming an overcrowded strategy. Meanwhile, M&A machine Melrose takes on a fight that might not be worth winning, and German airline Lufthansa eyes a stake in Italy’s ITA.

How to navigate a bewildering market landscape

17 Jan 2023

The pandemic boom lured in new and younger investors. Now interest rates are up, asset prices are down, and ESG investing faces a backlash. In this Exchange podcast, Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor talks about personalising investment, the value of data, and taking the long view.

Capital Calls: Lucky LBOs, Byron Trott

12 Dec 2022

Concise views on global finance: Coupa Software, a business that tracks expenses has a message for investors weighing its sale to Thoma Bravo: it is doing terribly. Byron Trott’s BDT is taking grill-maker Weber private again for $3.7 bln, a discount to last year’s IPO valuation.

Hong Kong IPOs go back to a less luminous future

12 Dec 2022

Bankers and officials see the end of China’s Covid-19 restrictions as crucial to reviving the hub’s once-booming IPO market. That understates the city’s challenges. After vying for the hottest listings, the way investors and companies traverse the gateway to China is changing.

EU makes partial retreat in clearing crusade

30 Nov 2022

Brussels may make banks clear some euro swaps on the continent, rather than stop them using venues like London altogether. The move avoids the disruption of a blanket ban, but would still push up costs. Clearing risks are best tackled through closer regulatory cooperation.

Capital Calls: Funky debt shock

29 Nov 2022

Concise views on global finance: Germany property group Aroundtown won’t be the last to flout bond market convention on hybrid debt.

FTX collapse consigns crypto to fringes of finance

24 Nov 2022

Sam Bankman-Fried’s failed crypto exchange is a huge blow to the ailing sector. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss how firewalls helped protect banks, how the saga will embolden regulators, and what the future looks like for digital currencies.

Stablecoins fall few cents short of respectability

23 Nov 2022

FTX’s collapse highlighted what happens when funds supposed to be in one place turn up in another, or nowhere at all. That will reignite the debate on how to regulate digital assets. Out in front are stablecoins, which have a way to go if they’re to live up to their name.

Coinbase’s problems more than contagion

21 Nov 2022

The crypto exchange’s boss Brian Armstrong wants to reassure investors that digital currencies are safe. That makes sense: Bitcoin and other coins are its lifeblood. But the industry collapse is only one problem. Coinbase took on debt before its business model had been proven.

FTX flop evokes history’s great financial swindles

18 Nov 2022

Investment bubbles are generally accompanied by fraud. The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange has elements of past scandals, from Dutch tulip mania to Bernie Madoff. Unusually, the 30-year-old seems to have previewed his own downfall, says Edward Chancellor.

FTX affords a turning point in venture governance

17 Nov 2022

New CEO John Ray uncovered patchy balance sheets and signs of looting at the bust crypto exchange. What he calls “a complete failure of corporate controls” means users may not get repaid. Formidable backers like Temasek and Sequoia would be crazy to make the same mistakes again.