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1 October 2019 The financial world was shaken by three seismic tremors during September 2019, but most people only noticed one of them. The First Seismic Tremor The one that everyone noticed was the drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil processing plant at Abqaiq on 14 September. The Yemen-based rebels who claimed responsibility have launched more than one hundred drone attacks in the last two years, on Saudi oil facilities such as oilfields, pipelines, and pumping stations, as well as military bases, airports, and other infrastructure... [read more]

12 August 2019 The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (“CBA”) is Australia’s largest bank at $140.6 billion, and the most expensive of the Big Four, in terms of P/E, dividend yield, and price to book ratio. As such, its disappointing result for the year ended 30 June 2019 does not augur well for the other three big banks (who all have September year ends)... [read more]

28 June 2019 Libra is planned to be a global cryptocurrency suitable for international transfers. Its value will be stable because it is based on a Reserve of high quality assets. There are many unanswered questions about Libra’s regulatory status, particularly about its compliance with anti money laundering rules. It will not be accepted in developed countries until it satisfies each country’s regulator. Libra can productively target remittances, which are an important segment of the global money transfer market. Remittances from rich countries to middle income and poor countries totalled USD $529 billion in 2018. The impact on Western banks [...]