Euro Exim Bank: Facilitating Global Trade

Euro Exim Bank is an international financial institution serving import and export businesses around the globe, facilitating trade finance instructions.

In today's rapidly growing international markets – such as the new Silk Road and expanding commercial hubs – trade finance continues to play a strategic role in the flow and movement of goods and services.

Euro Exim Bank specialises in connecting corporate buyers and sellers, enabling businesses to economically and efficiently export and import goods and services. The bank assists companies to fulfil their trade aspirations through financial instruments issuance (SWIFT MT700, MT710, MT760) and relay via correspondent institutions.

The bank’s international teams of experts have years of trade finance and SWIFT experience of sophisticated instruments and transacting via an extensive network of contacts and counterparties covering Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australasia, and South America with operations in St Lucia and London.

With expanding international offices supporting trade finance, bank guarantees and advisory services, Euro Exim Bank is extending its capabilities to provide credit and pre-paid card issuance, foreign exchange, and third-party SWIFT services, for a full-service offering to corporations, financial institutions, and limited companies. Plans include a presence in Abu Dhabi, India, and West Africa.

Innovative Trade Finance Platform

Trade finance covers many aspects of the financial market with complex documents, payments, and tracking. As such, comprehensive systems are essential to successful trade finance operations, and capturing data as close to the source is vital.

To meet this need, Euro Exim Bank has developed a sophisticated trade finance workflow system named SimpleX – available to agents, partners, and key customers – which captures pro-forma invoices, creates first drafts, tracks the flow of information for each trade, and creates SWIFT format messages.

In addition to invoices for the applicants, it tracks the due diligence, KYC, and compliance submissions through the life cycle of the transaction. The system also produces diarised entries so that events are alerted to operators for manual follow up where required.

Typical Clients

The bank’s corporate clients are mainly based in the active export markets of China, India, UAE, Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, sending goods all over the globe, transacting such diverse products as ethically sourced frozen foods, used cars, scrap metal, fruit, rice, grain, nuts, garments, sewing machines, plastic piping, plumbing accessories, and ceramics, amongst others.

Due Diligence

By heightened compliance requirements to know your customer, their type of business, the source of funds, and proofs of business relationships, financial institutions are more risk-averse than ever. As a matter of course, Euro Exim Bank pays strict attention to UN, US, EU, and individual country sanction lists regarding prohibited and dual-use goods. We also track PEPS, adverse press, and use AI technology throughout our due diligence process.

Conferences and Exhibitions

The bank participates in financial conferences globally and provides of thought leadership articles. Euro Exim Bank will be a key participant at the GTR Conference in Singapore.

Management

Kaushik Punjani - Director
kaushik.punjani@euroeximbank.com
Kaushik Punjani is a business owner, trusted executive, board member, and team leader with a unique understanding of both technical and business requirements. He holds BSc (Chemistry) and D. Pharmacy qualifications.

Mr Punjani has an extensive financial background and his roles have covered management and delivery of financial solutions at UK businesses at all levels. As director, he manages the board, overseeing preparation of financial reports and marketing and representing the bank at international events. In his role as head of Accounts, he oversees audit functions and liaison with external auditors and regulatory agencies.

Sanjay Thakrar - Trade Finance Specialist
sanjay.thakrar@euroeximbank.com
Sanjay Thakrar is a Trade Finance Specialist at Euro Exim Bank. With experience of running his own businesses, he has a unique perspective of both technical and business requirements. Mr Thakrar is keen to promote business growth and supports strong CSR programmes. He holds BSc and a masters’ degree.

Mr Thakrar has an extensive financial background, working in invoice discounting. He is immersed in the entire life cycle of imports and exports from inception and pro-forma invoices, through freight forwarding, insurance, importers, transporters, shipping, and all associated financial aspects.

Graham Bright JP – Head of Compliance and Operations
graham.bright@euroeximbank.com
Graham Bright JP is an experienced and technically proficient industry professional from a financial services and system vendors background. His extensive career spans 35 years and includes twenty years at SWIFT.

His expertise covers sales and marketing through software applications, infrastructure projects (CHAPS and Enquiry link), enterprise and managed services, marketing (re-branding and launching new SAAS products), and partner/channels experience in international financial markets.

Mr Bright is a regular contributor to trade journals (GTR, TFR) with published articles in financial technology press and the Financial Times. He is a regular speaker at international trade industry conferences and will be a speaker at GTR in Singapore.

Georgette Adonis-Roberts – International Legal Counsel
georgette.a@euroeximbank.com
Georgette Adonis-Roberts oversees the legal aspects for Euro Exim Bank. She is responsible for leading legal strategy and structure in the EMEA and Caribbean regions and providing oversight for the bank’s regulatory, compliance, and cross-border functions.

Mrs Adonis-Roberts is dual qualified barrister with a demonstrated history of working in in-house and in private practice in the legal services industry, banking, and trade finance sectors. Keen, dynamic, and career-driven she has extensive knowledge and experience in drafting legal documents, negotiating terms and conditions, assisting in the progression of commercial transactions, and corporate governance.

Prior to joining Euro Exim Bank, Mrs Adonis-Roberts worked in private practice in St Lucia with a cohesive team at Du Boulay Anthony & Co, dealing with many complex legal matters and civil litigation for high-net-worth clients, international organisations, hotel chains, and banks.

She has also worked as a property law specialist for Premier Property Lawyers on behalf of clients buying or selling residential properties in the UK and is an accredited mediator in civil and commercial training.

Mathisha Wahikala - Marketing Manager
mathisha.w@euroeximbank.com
Mathisha has over 18 years of experience and expertise in strategic marketing and business development across a wide variety of industries in the UK, Dubai and Sri Lanka. As Marketing Manager at Euro Exim Bank, she is responsible for the overall strategic marketing management that expedites the drive of the company, including planning and implementing promotional campaigns, overall responsibility for brand management and corporate identity and developing CSR initiatives. Holding an MBA from the University of Southern Queensland and the professional qualification from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), she holds an instrumental role with insight into business management and added exposure to a range of markets and cultures. Mathisha is a professional member of CIM and Australian Marketing Institute. She has worked as the Marketing & Administration Manager for Syngco Ltd and as the Senior Administration & Marketing Officer at Drydocks World Dubai.

For further information, please visit: euroeximbank.com


CFI.co Meets the CEO & Chairman of NESR: Sherif Foda

[caption id="attachment_12859" align="alignright" width="368"] CEO & Chairman: Sherif Foda[/caption]

Sherif Foda has served as NESR’s chief executive officer and chairman since its inception. He has a quarter-century’s worth of professional experience in the oil and gas industry around the world, primarily at Schlumberger. At that company, he served as senior advisor to the chairman, as president of the Production Group, and as the president of Schlumberger Europe and Africa. Prior to that, he served as Schlumberger’s vice-president and managing director of the Arabian market, was worldwide vice-president for Well Intervention, and was Schlumberger’s vice-president for Europe, Caspian, and Africa, amongst other roles.

Mr Foda began his career in 1993 with Schlumberger, working on the offshore fields in the Red Sea. He graduated in 1991 from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Faculty of Engineering, and he holds a BSc double major in Electronics and Automatic Control. Mr Foda is a board member of Energy Recovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII), a technology company based in California. Also, he serves on the board of Trustees of Awty International School in Houston and is a board member for Al Fanar Venture philanthropy in London.

Mr Foda built a strong team of executives, led NESR through its initial public offering, spearheaded the acquisition effort, and negotiated both terms and government approvals related to the transaction. His ability to build relationships, assess valuation and risks, negotiate the unexpected, and leverage a global network of supporters has been credited to NESR’s ongoing success.

The balance of the NESR executive team also has proven leadership experience, both in the oilfield services and energy industries, as well as in functional areas such as legal, tax, entrepreneurship, operations, finance, and private equity.

Together with the operational leadership at GES and NPS, this team has built a combined company that is able to compete effectively with large global players and provide an in-country solution to many of the MENA region’s top oil and gas producers.

Commenting on NESR’s future, Mr Foda said: “We believe that we have capitalised on the right opportunity at the right time in the right place and we are at the beginning of an exciting journey.”


National Energy Services Reunited: Providing In-Country Solutions to MENA Oil and Gas Producers

The Middle East North Africa Region continues to be one of the most attractive oil and gas markets in the world, attracting global investment from hundreds of leading companies and governments. As a result, it is also one of the most active markets for oilfield services companies. Its low cost of production, large and diverse workforce, and continual investment over many decades have cultivated a marketplace that is fertile for intelligent investing in the future of energy production.

National Energy Services Corp

Against this thriving backdrop, enter National Energy Services Reunited Corp. NESR began as a special purpose acquisition corporation, or SPAC, designed to invest in the future of energy production. After significant due diligence across a wide variety of opportunities, NESR recently announced its investment selections, two of the most respected oil field services companies in the region: Gulf Energy SAOC (GES) and National Petroleum Services (NPS). NESR announced the acquisitions of the two firms in November 2017 and expects to close the transaction in the second quarter of 2018.

The business combination creates a regional oilfield services leader in the Middle East North Africa Region. It provides a platform to accelerate growth and bring new technology to the region. It combines experienced management teams with deep sector expertise and a successful track record. It brings together a diverse and strategic group of large institutional investors. And it forms the first and only NASDAQ-listed national oilfield services company in the MENA region.

NESR spent considerable time evaluating a wide variety of opportunities around the world. In the energy services sector, it saw the best opportunity in the Middle East where the market remains fragmented, demand is strong, and where customers are seeking alternatives to the larger international providers. The acquisitions of NPS and GES provide NESR with an opportunity to create a sizable player in the marketplace.

"In the energy services sector, it saw the best opportunity in the Middle East where the market remains fragmented, demand is strong, and where customers are seeking alternatives to the larger international providers."

With the combined expertise of the three companies, NESR believes it can expand even further. As standalone companies, NPS and GES outperformed most of their peers through the most recent industry downturn, and have prepared themselves for solid growth in the coming years. NESR’s approach will be to aggressively accelerate and build on that track record and market positioning through the injection of new technologies.

Most of the initial key investors in NESR will roll over all or a substantial portion of their holdings into the combined entity. Some of these investors have also executed lock-up provisions as a sign of their commitment to the combined company. In addition, NESR secured long term investors to come alongside and provide financing capital for the transactions. This is both unique to SPACs and is a testament to investor belief in the long-term value proposition of NESR and its leadership.

Attractive Competitive Positioning

Customer focused: Because NESR is located and operates primarily in the Middle East, with local employees and regional customers, its primary mandate is to serve customers in the region. NESR has existing partnerships with key suppliers, technology providers, and operators in the region, and will continue to develop new partnerships in the coming years. Leveraging these partnerships and driving technological innovation will allow NESR to compete effectively in a market predominately and historically served by international operators. In addition, NESR’s size relative to the competition allows it to be more flexible when assessing and solving customer problems, enhanced by quick turnaround times and rapid innovation. As a result, NESR can deliver tailored, world-class solutions based on customer needs, rather than externally-generated solutions that are retrofitted to individual customers.

Local talent and resources: NESR’s employee base is virtually all regionally-based, enhancing NESR’s knowledge of the marketplace and the key players who will drive the next generation of exploration and production. These employees also bring a wealth of cross-country experience within the EMEA region, along with an understanding of best practices across countries and geographies.

In-country value creation: NESR is committed to in-country value creation. By leveraging its customer focus and local talent, along with its extensive relationships in the region, the company will also drive business to suppliers, operators, and technology providers in the region. This will increase the overall strength of the partners with which NESR does business, and will highlight the value proposition that NESR brings to operators. This in-country value creation is a highly value-additive element of their offering. It aligns the company’s core abilities with the strategic initiatives of their customer base and also will drive innovation and customisation for the specific needs unique to the region. This will be achieved organically as well as with partnering with technology providers with whom regional R&D facilities will be opened.

Vision: NESR’s ultimate goal is to leverage all its competitive advantages to create the first in-region global player that brings world-class service to its customers, prioritises regional investments, including to employees and partners, and ultimately become the preferred vehicle for future investment in the thriving EMEA region.

From the Region to the Region and Beyond

Additionally, NESR’s vision is to grow outside the region and have a MENA based company servicing the neighbouring Asia and Africa markets. This will provide exposure to the employees, continue to drive diversity, show the strength and know-how of local talent, and serve as a new source of employment for the young talent coming out of the region.

Gulf Energy SAOC (GES)

GES is one of the major service providers in Oman with significant market shares in its main business lines: two-thirds of its portfolio is focused on drilling technologies and one-third is centred on production services. It has operated in the region for more than a decade, and has significant, established relationships with virtually all of the major operators in Oman as well as with international clients. One aspect of GES’s business was particularly attractive for potential investors: the structure of contracts in Oman generally are longer term and are commonly 5-7 years, providing an underlying financial foundation for future growth. As a result, GES has a very high percentage of its revenue base secured for years to come due to their superior delivery and technology portfolio. This not only provides a foundation for growth, but also increases its ability to form quality partnerships and negotiate favourable terms with partners.

National Petroleum Services (NPS)

Formed in 2004, National Petroleum Services is significantly diversified in terms of geography, and nicely complements GES’s competitive positioning. The majority of its business is in production and completions, and it has a strong presence in Saudi, Iraq, Algeria, and other countries in the region. NPS is recognised as one of the premier service providers who can compete with the major international and regional services companies in these countries. It has consistently gained market share due to its high-performance culture and service quality, and, like GES, it has a very strong portfolio of contracts which serve to further ballast its business.

The Business Combination

Attractive Region: On a macro level, the cost of oil and gas production in the Middle East is the cheapest in the world. Service cost is a fraction of the production cost in this region – low single-digit dollars per barrel. Contrasted with North America where completion service costs are over 60% of the cost per barrel, one can appreciate the advantage NESR has. Furthermore, there are a lot of technology companies in the US who have been unable to introduce their niche technologies in the region. With NESR’s position, knowledge, experience, as well as its presence in the US, it will provide a platform for these companies to introduce these pathbreaking technologies to the Middle East market.

A Complimentary Portfolio: As a combined company, NESR, GES and NPS complement each other in the portfolio of services they provide and in the geographies they serve. The combined company will be strategically placed to expand a full complement of service offerings across the region and will have significant cost and revenue synergies even without any incremental acquisitions.

Together, NESR, NPS and GES will be the largest regionally-focused oilfield services player and will be positioned to grow both organically and through follow-on acquisitions.

Post transaction, NESR’s operating companies will service virtually all of the major national and international oil companies in the region. This is important in that it will allow the companies to cross-sell different segments in countries where either NPS or GES have an existing footprint.

One of the reasons these two companies have grown and successfully expanded their core markets is because of their entrepreneurial spirit. NESR wants to keep the entrepreneurial DNA of both the companies intact, and that has driven the retention and continuity in leadership at both companies.

NESR’s vision is to be the national flagship carrier of service to its clients. It intends to manufacture in the region, employ the future generation, inject technology, and help its esteemed customers achieve their goal of more than 50% in-country value.

At closing, NESR will be the leading regional oilfield services player. Even without additional acquisitions, it has the potential to outperform most in the market. Sherif Foda, CEO of NESR, described the company’s vision: “We have a vision of creating something extraordinary which will not only provide superior returns to our investors but also will have a lasting impact on the region with in-country value creation and employment opportunities. We also have a strong ethic to help our clients achieve their goals. We have very aggressive growth plans – both organically and inorganically – and we will be supplementing our existing portfolio of services with additional technology offerings.”

Attractive Valuation and Financial Statistics

Part of what made the transaction so attractive to investors was its valuation compared to the oilfield services market. At the time of the announcement, on a trading multiple basis, industry peers traded at approximately 10 times 2018 expected EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation), compared to more than a 40% discount for NESR, providing significant upside for investors. In addition, while most of the public peer companies contracted from 2014 to 2017, both NPS and GES grew. Finally, both GES and NPS have very conservative balance sheets, so the resulting combined entity will enjoy the ability to use leverage to both expand its business and entertain acquisitions to grow inorganically.


RegTech to the Rescue

The banking and other parts of the financial services industry are undergoing an all-encompassing digital transformation. Soon, disruptive technologies will revolutionise the sector globally.

Since the global crisis in 2008 there has been no shortage of new regulations. Banks have subsequently added a costly headcount by hiring large teams of professionals to fulfil compliance and manage risk. For instance, 80% of the budget for anti-money-laundering (AML) is for tasks done manually. Part of RegTech’s merit is to substitute human capital with robotics to cut cost.

"RegTech has computer geeks trying to fix a dysfunctional global banking system unfit for purpose."

RegTech is short for ‘regulatory technology’, a catch-all phrase for the use of new technologies for compliance with regulation. For example, RegTechs are trying to tackle pain points such as onboarding whilst observing simultaneously know-your-client (KYC) requirements.

Corporate Governance in Action

Much of RegTech is about the critical business of improving corporate governance. Some of RegTech’s key deliverables include:

Risk management,

Identity management,

Transaction monitoring, and

Reporting and transparency.

Blockchain was the buzzword of 2015; insurtech arrived in 2016, and last year, RegTech appeared on the scene.

[caption id="attachment_12869" align="aligncenter" width="1500"] Figure 1: RegTech Heat Map 2018. Source: CFI.co.[/caption]

FinTech is a term from the last century which can now be applied to digital innovation in financial services. FinTech exists in two broad categories: (a) the ‘original’ B2B or institutional – such as technology for the back offices of banks and trading companies, and (b) the evolved ‘current’ retail B2C which includes personal finance apps, alternative investments (such as crypto), crowdfunding, and lending platforms.

Both categories potential clients of RegTechs. However, some FinTechs compete with banks as disruptors, while RegTechs do not compete with banks, but supply solutions which comprise information technology systems that may add disruptive benefits to banks.

FinTech and RegTech are similar in that both rely on innovation and employ new technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data, and cloud computing.

Cost-Effective Compliance

The comprehensive and ongoing regulatory reforms and tighter control mechanisms (see tag chart) drive the need for more RegTech. The need for efficiency and cost cutting push for more digitally automate compliance. And solutions must be able to do all better, cheaper, quicker, and safer than manual labour currently employed – minimising the human intervention in the daily course of cumbersome and time-consuming compliance.

[caption id="attachment_12872" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Figure 2: RegTech Value Creation. Source: CFI.co.[/caption]

Also, growth in e-commerce, mobile payment systems, and fintech rouse RegTech as a must have add-on. Strengthening security and fighting fraud are also strong motivators. Breach of compliance can lead to severe fines, such as 4% of a bank’s turnover.

Value Creation

The drivers reside not only in risk and cost reduction, but also in improved decision-making processes and in future trends such as predictive and prescriptive analytics and intelligence. Agility and speed in execution, combined with strategic direction, creates value.

The 3C conundrum is a balancing act between (a) investing in fulfilling the compliance requirements, (b) cost-effectiveness and efficiency, and (c) the client’s (often near or real-time) experience.

Legacy Systems

New RegTech solutions must integrate into existing and often very complex and heterogenous internal IT legacy systems. Also, new solutions must serve entities across multiple jurisdictions and multidiscipline purposes such has treasury management, risk management, corporate governance, supervisory reporting, etc.

[caption id="attachment_12873" align="alignright" width="212"] Figure 3: Banks 3C Conundrum Balance Act. Source: CFI.co.[/caption]

The RegTech industry is still pretty fragmented with without any players dominating. Around the globe there have appeared a number of promising start-ups. The top RegTech firms in both size and numbers are based out of the United States and United Kingdom. Also, many countries in Europe are working at becoming RegTech ecosystem hotspots, including in Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, and the countries of Scandinavia. Several emerging economies are also making strategic moves to boost their RegTech sector, including Brazil, South Africa, Cyprus, India, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

In Asia, Singapore is a natural RegTech ecosystem hub as the seat of regional headquarters of financial institutions for Asia Pacific. The city state’s government’s long-standing dedication to regulation and prudence is well known and documented.

RegTech depends on the continuous integration of an evolving ecosystem which includes a financial services industry and skilled labour. The RegTech ecosystem also requires an engaged regulator as well as the collaboration of all stakeholders.

Regulators Join In

Many regulators are updating their market monitoring systems and working with RegTechs to strengthen information gathering. For instance, the Austrian Central Bank is in the process of improving the regulatory report processes for banks and, in doing so, reduce both costs and systemic risk exposure.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has introduced a regulatory sandbox for exploring innovation, including to test blockchain technology.

Blockchain is a record (or ledger) of digital events between different parties that collectively guarantee the integrity of the ledger – a true integrity record with no interference possible. Such blockchain (or distributed ledger technology - DLT) has the potential to fortify (near) real-time trade settlement, market surveillance, identity management, and smart contracts for post-trade lifecycle management.

RegTech solutions are often cloud-based, meaning the data is remotely maintained, managed, and backed-up. This increases the flexibility of access control and sharing of the data – as well as the potential for reducing costs.
Big data and data mining compute numbers to intelligence and can be used to improve visibility and transparency, including the mapping of potential systemic risks.

RegTech forms part of the answer to how agile banks and other financials can plot their future by leverage innovation coherently and align it with their corporate strategy, across business lines and across jurisdictions, in the face of the ever-changing regulations.

[caption id="attachment_12875" align="aligncenter" width="754"] Figure 4: Regulation and Compliance for RegTech Global Tag Cloud. Source: CFI.co.[/caption]

Read the article from the CFI.co Summer 2018 print issue, or from the CFI.co app (download from iTunes or Google Play).


CFI.co Meets the Founder and CEO of ValueLabs: Arjun Rao

[caption id="attachment_12888" align="alignright" width="500"] Founder and CEO: Arjun Rao[/caption]

Arjun Rao is a first-generation entrepreneur who has transformed his vision of creating a unique company into a flourishing reality – one with an entirely different approach to business.

ValueLabs was founded in 1997 with the aim of building trust-based, long-standing partnerships with both clients and employees. Since then, the focus has been on building and sustaining relationships, growing with purpose, having a long-term outlook, and fulfilling social responsibilities.

As the founder and CEO of ValueLabs, Mr Rao provides strategic direction to the company and ensures – by example – that the organisation never loses sight of its culture and values. He is a dynamic leader who is self-reliant and nimble but flexible in thought. Those who work closely with Mr Rao experience the full import of his belief that all the education one needs is inherently present and when driven by ‘character energy’ and a ‘sense of perfection’, one can learn and achieve anything.

Mr Rao holds an MS Degree from Cornell University, US, where he held the AD White Fellowship. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, where he graduated at the top of his class.

Excerpts from the Book The ValueLabs Stack

The genesis of ValueLabs can be traced back to a single, spontaneous selfless act. Over the two decades of its existence, the company has emerged as a leading and trusted information technology partner for businesses across the globe. And, as the organisation continued to scale up, Mr Rao felt a need to communicate to his employees and clients, what the company is and stands for, in a concise yet memorable way.

Following a lot of thought and reflection, Mr Rao realised that the best way to do this is through the so-called ValueLabs Stack.

“In this world of disruptive times, it will be good to think of a partner akin to a technology stack. The most difficult part of a partnership is to get things to work over the long haul. How can we continue to deliver value to our long-standing clients year after year, both incremental and paradigm shifting? How do we help our employees evolve continuously, as they work in the same long-standing relationships year after year?”

“We have structured the company, ValueLabs, as a stack; a structure that addresses the above questions and more. The three-layered Stack, with each layer standing on the shoulders of the previous one, forms the basis of all our thoughts, interactions, and processes. The foundational layer of values, which are immutable, guides us. Then comes the business model layer which defines how we engage with various stakeholders. And, in these days of disruption, we would not be relevant without being innovative, and that forms the third layer.”

“Values - This layer is fundamental to who we are and what we stand for as an organisation. Being strong on our values has been a core thought process since we established the company, hence the name, ValueLabs. Doing the right thing - This is our operating philosophy. Everything we do is measured by whether we did the right thing. They are four of the most difficult words to live by in daily life. While they often lead to short-term pain, one always comes out the winner in the long run. The ‘unselfish gene’ is essential to be able to do the right thing.”

The most foundational aspect of ‘who we are’ and ‘why we are here’ revolves around four simple words — Doing the Right Thing. While I didn’t even know that I would start a business like this in the beginning, the one thing I was very clear about was that I have to do the right thing in everything I do.

“We think of the world through the ‘Head, heart, and hand’ lens. I believe that for any task to be successful, the head (which stands for planning), the heart (which stands for empathy), and the hand (which stands for execution) need to be in sync. This is something that resonates well with most of our clients and employees.”

Every time we review a relationship internally, we apply this filter: ‘Did we really think it through? Did we feel for it? Did we act on it?

“One of my biggest challenges, as we have grown from 5 to 50, to 500, and now 5000+ employees, is this: how do we ensure that our entire employee pool is bound by the fabric of love? If we don’t do that, the organisation can very quickly get split into silos/turfs, and politics can creep in. I do not believe you can ever do perfect work if you don’t love what you are doing. I don’t believe there can be perfect teamwork if you don’t love the people you are working with. And it is just so special for me to see the openness that we have with a lot of our clients, which is just not possible if you don’t love the client.”

“I have always maintained that we are in the business of ‘Building Trust’. We do this by exceeding expectations and doing the right thing, day in and day out. It is a very simple and honest way of looking at what we do. It is not about the technology, it is not about the solutions, it is not about consulting – it is more about building trust with our clients and our employees. It’s quite stunning to see the NPS (net promoter score) that came back in the last few quarters of 2017 when we did our CSAT survey (with close to 400 respondents). We had achieved an NPS of 70+.”

“I would like to leave you with a thought that I am absolutely convinced about: ‘Unselfishness is more paying when we have the patience to practice it.’ And there is truly another way to build a business – powered only by values.”


Wing (Cambodia) Limited Specialised Bank: Bringing the Unbanked Online

The smartphone, ubiquitous in all corners of the world, is proving a powerful tool for the promotion of financial inclusion. Even those armed with not-so-smart mobile phones can easily access a whole range of banking services previously unavailable to all but the wealthiest people.

In Cambodia, Wing (Cambodia) Limited Specialised Bank has recognised the needs of unbanked and under-banked people, and provided with a series of purpose-designed products and services aimed at meeting the requirements of customers not served by the country’s large traditional financial institutions.

Conceived in 2009, Wing continuously fuels the blistering pace of financial inclusion in the Kingdom of Cambodia by providing its customers easy mobile banking solutions.

The company’s vision is to provide every Cambodian with convenient access to mobile financial services relevant to, and for the improvement of, their daily lives. The bank understands the needs of its customers, and harnesses innovation and technology to offer a variety of economic and financial improvements that help drive the economic growth of Cambodia as a whole.

"The company’s vision is to provide every Cambodian with convenient access to mobile financial services relevant to, and for the improvement of, their daily lives."

Drawn by convenience and reliability, customers can do things at the touch of a button on their phone – either through the Wing Money Mobile App or USSD Code *989# – such as pay utility bills and loans, process online and offline cashless payments, top-up phones, and transfer money domestically or internationally, amongst others. The platform offers both convenience and quick access to financial services that a large parts of the population has never experienced before. It also puts the bank’s customers in control of their money.

Alongside this continuous financial blaze, Wing has also helped numerous businesses to manage funds disbursements, business payments, and access internet banking payment solutions.

Wing also operates a nationwide network of over 5,000 Wing Cash Xpress outlets. This in itself has brought jobs and security to the bank’s agents whilst clients may obtain services just a few steps from their home.

Recognised for the excellence of its services and unfailing precision with which transactions are processed, Wing is beyond humbled to receive 2018 Best Social Impact Bank Cambodia Award provided by Capital Finance International (CFI.c) for the first time. Such award would not be made possible without the support of shareholders, the relentless efforts of employees, the loyalty and dedication of agents, and trust given by partners. Most importantly, Wing is thankful to its millions of customers who entrust the bank with the management of their funds and finances.

Through its ten years in Cambodia, Wing has initiated various corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities ranging from education and environment to poverty reduction – all meant to help build a sustainable society. In addition, to providing funds and materials, Wing also maintains a financial literacy programme for families residing in the countryside on how to best manage their finances, avoid debts, and use savings to expand their business. Wing also encourages everyone to start thinking about ways to help the environment through, for example, tree-planting initiatives. To encourage the donation of funds, Wing charges no service fee to donors who gift money via Wing agents or the Wing mobile app to the Kantha Bopha Foundation which supports five hospitals which provide free medical healthcare to children.


Book Review: The Neighborhood by Mario Vargas Llosa

Missed Opportunity

These are not the best of times for Peruvian novelist and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. A liberal on continent mostly ruled by demagogues who pay lip service to whatever ideology is in vogue, the writer has sought refuge in Madrid from where he frequently admonishes Latin American politicians for their lack of moral rectitude. In The Neighborhood, the 2016 novel that has now been translated into English, Mr Vargas Llosa dissects Peruvian society in order to display its many vices.

The plot is set in 1990s Lima, a stage so anarchic it almost transcends the Latin American penchant for chaotic surrealism. As then-president Alberto Fujimori evolves into the caricature of a caudillo (strong man) and emits edicts increasingly detached from the grim reality of a disintegrating society – beset by Maoist rebels, an sputtering economy, and a restless population – Mr Vargas Llosa paints a sombre picture of protagonists caught up in strife and duplicity, betrayal and retribution.

Though the story moves haltingly and at times seems to wander off into dead ends, the novel leaves little room for ambiguity or guesswork. Mr Vargas Llosa’s villains have no saving graces; they are all bad – and rather flat. Taking a cue from the satirical The Bonfire of Vanities (Tom Wolfe, 1987), a disconcerting number characters discover that wealth, even of the unfathomable kind, offers scant protection against political expediency. Down into the gutter or grave they go – one after the other in a sequence as predictable as inevitable.

A work of fiction, The Neighborhood at times reads as a settling of scores. Mr Fujimori did Mr Vargas Llosa – and Latin American literature – a great favour by defeating the writer in the 1990 presidential election. Mr Fujimori duly became president only to proclaim himself dictator two years later in a novel self-coup (autogolpe).

In 1995, he claimed a second term in office in a highly questionable election. Tinkering with the constitution as well as the ballot box enabled Mr Fujimori to run – and win – for a third time. The international community failed to show up for his inauguration in 2000. By now, the president’s many dark dealings had started to catch up with him. Whilst on a state visit to Brunei, Mr Fujimori refused to travel home, flying to Tokyo instead from where, after some prodding, he sent in his resignation by fax.

The Neighborhood tries to capture in words the string of absurdities that was the Peru of the 1990s. It fails rather miserably – and surprisingly. Mr Vargas Llosa seems to have lost his touch to describe incredible realities by proxy. As Gabriel García Márquez, in many ways Mr Vargas Llosa’s nemesis, has shown, Latin American reality can best be synthesised via surrealism. Any other approach invariably falls flat.

The Neighborhood almost represents a tiresome I-told-you-so: the author seems to revel, perhaps unwittingly, in a certain glee that things went horribly wrong once he had left the political arena. But Mr Vargas Llosa must surely agree to let bygones be bygones: his erstwhile opponent Alberto Fujimori was only last year released from prison on humanitarian grounds after serving ten years of a 25-year sentence. Mr Fujimori, in a delusional state of mind, returned to Peru from his self-imposed exile in 2005, expecting a hero’s welcome. As it happened, he was arrested during a stopover in Chile and extradited in 2007 to face trial in Peru.

As a statement of folly and deceit, The Neighborhood offers a disappointing read. However, should the reader attempt to apply a bit of colourful imagination to the plotline, a more realistic – and absurdly outrageous and entertaining – picture may emerge that approaches Peruvian realities a bit closer than the book does.

256 pp, ISBN 978-0-5713-3307-3, £15.28


Jordan: The Sky Is the Limit

[caption id="attachment_11814" align="alignright" width="329"] Philippe Le Houérou, CEO of IFC (right) in Jordan[/caption]

The hub for flag carrier Royal Jordanian Airlines, Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA), just south of Amman repeatedly takes top honours for convenience, efficiency, and overall traveller satisfaction. In a region known for its luxurious aviation hubs, the relatively compact airport with an annual passenger flow of around 7.5 million, QAIA frequently outperforms larger competitors. The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Survey ranks the facility first in the Middle East across eighteen different categories.

Built by the Ministry of Transport in the early 1980s as a replacement for the Amman Civil Airport, and government-owned and -managed, QAIA was designed to handle a maximum of 3.5 million passengers per year. By the mid-2000s the airport had outgrown its original specifications. An upgrade and expansion were called for, not only to handle heavier traffic flows, but also to preserve QAIA’s status as a niche transit hub for the region.

With limited resources and an economy still on the mend after suffering a steep downturn in the late 1980s, the Jordanian government in 1998 embarked on a large-scale privatisation drive, selling fourteen state-owned enterprises in an, ultimately successful, attempt to reduce debt and rebalance the books. From a high of 174% of GDP in 1989, government debt was slashed, in relative terms, by two-thirds in barely two decades. The gargantuan exercise, however, meant that no state funds could be earmarked for infrastructure development or renewal.

"With limited resources and an economy still on the mend after suffering a steep downturn in the late 1980s, the Jordanian government in 1998 embarked on a large-scale privatisation drive, selling fourteen state-owned enterprises in an, ultimately successful, attempt to reduce debt and rebalance the books."

Mindful of the need not to delay the airport expansion, the Jordanian government in early 2006 appointed the IFC as lead advisor on the feasibility of a establishing a public-private partnership for the project. The IFC helped authorities organise, manage, and conclude a competitive tendering process based on a 25-year build-operate-transfer contract. In May 2007, the Airport International Group (AIG) – with participation, amongst others, of Aéroports de Paris Management, construction company Joannou & Paraskevaides, and regional investment companies – won the bid, offering the state a 54.% share of gross revenues and proposing to expand QAIA’s capacity to twelve million passengers per year.

Appointed as senior lender and lead arranger, the IFC worked with AIG to arrange long-term financing to closely match the projected cash-flow profile. The umbrella provided by the IFC significantly reduced the project’s political and commercial risk which, in turn, brought in $160m in loans from commercial banks to supplement the corporation’s own $120m and the $100m parallel loan it helped raise from the Islamic Development Bank.

The success of QAIA has led the Jordanian government to complete numerous other successful PPP projects in the power sector with the support of IFC.

During the construction of the new terminal, completed in 2013 after a number of design changes, Jordan’ economy proved remarkably resilient to unsettling externalities such as the onset in the Great Recession in 2009, the Gaza War in that same year, and the Arab Spring. GDP growth remained robust throughout whilst passenger numbers at QAIA significantly outpaced projections to reach 7.4 million last year. Two successfully concluded financing rounds delivered a modern airport with plenty room for growth and helping the government’s drive to attract more tourists to the country. Instead of representing a drain on scare public resources, QAIA actually adds to the state’s revenue.

The largest private sector investment project to date, Queen Alia International Airport showcases the power of public-private partnerships and the value of participation by the IFC. Rather than merely providing funding, the IFC mobilised its portfolio management team to engage lenders and speed up processes. A conduit located at the centre of a triangle formed between government, concessionaire, and lenders, the IFC effectively got the project off the ground by – as the saying goes – making things happen.


The Current Crypto Bear Market & The Future of Blockchain – Asset Backed Token (ABT) ICOs

The current crypto bear market is due much to the network value well exceeding the number of transactions at the end of last year. The last time this happened was in late 2013 and resulted in a correction that did not find it’s low until Jan 2015. It then took until 2017 for bitcoin’s price to regain old highs around 1100. Once this happened, bitcoin skyrocketed for the remainder of 2017:

[caption id="attachment_12908" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Bitcoin NVT Signal. Source: Woobull.com. (Transaction value is smoothed by 90 day moving average)[/caption]

The current correction is the steepest correction since 2014 when bitcoin corrected -85%. Bitcoin has corrected beyond -75% four times since 2010. This is nothing unusual.

I believe bitcoin will find its major low, possibly around $5000 or perhaps as low as $2950 if it corrects as much as it did when it hit $150 in January 2015. I believe this will happen sometime later in 2019, after which, a new bull market will begin enabling bitcoin to eventually achieve 6 figures in dollars. Indeed, numerous major tailwinds are headed its way:

Institutional capital is coming online with various platforms being established by major institutions such as CME and Goldman Sachs.

Major governments are aligning themselves with blockchain technology.

Bitcoin’s killer app is its store of value. Bitcoin’s superior network effect gives it a superior store of value, even to that of gold.

3 billion of the world’s unbanked and another 1 billion partially banked are starting to use bitcoin via mpesa/bitpesa.

Rootstock enables bitcoin to emulate ethereum as it enables smart contracts on the bitcoin platform making it competitive to ethereum. Bitcoin also brings along its superior network effect and hashing power, thus should maintain its lead as the more secure network.

Bitcoin’s Lightning Network which solves a variety of issues such as scalability and transaction costs.

A major devaluation in fiat potentially within the next 2 years due to unprecedented levels of global debt. The US Federal Reserve will find they can no longer hike rates beyond the next few rate hikes, thus will have to reverse course. Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio, bond king Bill Gross, legendary investor Jim Rogers, and even former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan are all saying quantitative easing has flooded the financial system with some countries such as Germany and Japan sitting with negative rates, thus will not end well with a material devaluation of fiat likely.

Decentralization of the financial sector.

Bitcoin’s maximum mint of 21 million coins makes it deflationary as opposed to all fiat currencies which are inflationary.

Tim Draper and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have said cryptocurrencies will overtake fiat in 5 to 10 years. Next to my $1,000,000 prediction of bitcoin by the year 2022 is Tim Draper’s prediction of bitcoin at $250,000 also by the year 2022.

As shown in the chart below and as I wrote in an earlier piece, given the exponential price rise of bitcoin, it should exceed the US M1 money supply by 2022. In other words, it will overtake the world’s reserve currency by 2022. Note, Bitcoin Money Supply = Bitcoin Market Capitalization. The steep exponential trajectory shown below is equal to the rise in price of bitcoin. While the slope of the chart below has been slowing somewhat, other factors may sustain or steepen the current slope.

[caption id="attachment_12907" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Bitcoin money supply VS USD money stock. Source: Woobull.com.[/caption]

If 2015-2016 is any guide, it may take another 1-2 years for bitcoin to regain old highs around $20,000. But given the major tailwinds at bitcoin’s back as shown above, it may reach its old highs of around $20,000 sooner than we expect. Of course, before it gets there, if its current correction repeats the correction from its peak in December 2013 to its trough in January 2015, it could see lows of $2950, or 85% from its prior peak of around $20,000.

Nevertheless, the bitcoin bear market that has so far pushed bitcoin to prices at the time of this writing to just around $7000, or -65% under peak prices achieved in December 2017, has motivated the often demonizing media to once again call into question bitcoin’s value.

As anyone familiar with this space knows, many have chanted that bitcoin/crypto has no underlying value. Even Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, has said Ethereum is well overvalued since so many of the cryptocurrencies built on its platform have little to no value with unproven platforms, if they even have a platform. Indeed, the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) space has been rightfully scolded for ICOs being built on vapor, perhaps somewhat akin to the dot.com boom of the late 1990s, during which most dot.com companies failed due to business models bereft of substance or logic. The number of worthless business models and scam artists in the ICO space has certainly left a negative imprint. Nevertheless, blockchain remains transformational across many industries. Blockchain-based ICOs shall replace traditional venture capital as ICO capital raise is vastly more efficient and transparent than the arbitrary, intransigent, and oligopolous VC world. ICOs done right bring transparency and market forces while the cold light of day replaces the secretive elite, “behind closed doors” Venture Capitalists. Blockchain removes unnecessary middle men, thus capital raise can be done in a fraction of the time, and projects can be completed well under budget.

World’s First Asset Backed Token

As a consequence of this, the world’s first asset backed token (ABT) ICO backed by real estate is being launched. The reliability of blockchain technology enables fractional ownership via a highly efficient distribution of value while greatly enhancing liquidity in what has traditionally been a fairly illiquid market. Multiple investors will be able to own a piece of real estate, some land, an apartment, or an entire apartment complex. Blockchain provides a solid foundation where a far more efficient capital employs real banks, real attorneys, real accountants, real appraisers, and real sales agents to all work together to develop land into liveable homes and apartment complexes.

World’s Most Advanced Digital Nation

One current project has been billed by various media sources as the world’s most advanced digital nation, Estonia. Tallinn, with its stunning Hanseatic buildings, is interspersed with the world’s advanced digital start-ups. This contributes to Tallinn’s breakneck rates of growth, thus bodes well for land values with many new families in formation seeking apartment and home accommodations near the city center.

Real Estate ABT

The ICO project, HanseCoin, owns 6.6 hectares of land with space for 214 apartments and 28 houses, just 12 minutes from Tallinn’s city center, and has been fully permitted with legal approvals completed and relevant infrastructure already built. The land is thus “shovel ready” to be developed. A capital raise of 6.5 mil euros of construction equity will be conducted via an ICO which will launch in the fall of 2018.

Outside the cryptospace and blockchain hype, what remains when the fog lifts? Shovel ready land that is being transformed into residential property. Even should the cryptospace and bitcoin go to zero, or regulatory burdens were to become onerous, the foundation of our project remains intact. All investors still own their tokenized share of the land, enjoy part of the capital gain of their property, and receive their dividends.

From here, the project can be scaled up, initial for but not limited to just land development and real estate. That said, fractional ownership of real estate alone is an untapped multi-billion market. Fractional ownership enables a real estate owner to split up their home or property investment and sell off equity stakes. The real estate equity can then be freely traded until, one day, when the property is sold, the owner and equity investor can both enjoy any gain in the property’s value. But asset backed tokenization does not end with real estate. This can also be done with other hard assets.

"Using blockchains, you can securitize any asset for 1/100th the cost," according to Multicoin Capital partner Kyle Samani. "We will undoubtedly see tokenized real estate securities in 2018," according to Prof. Stephen McKeon of the University of Oregon. Further, tokenizing real estate could also make the space, which has been attractive to investors but difficult to trade, more liquid. An analyst at Apex Token Fund explained, "A new level of liquidity is created when tokenizing traditional assets. This liquidity makes it faster and easier to rebalance a portfolio as the market changes."

We’re going into a new era. Buckle up!

by Dr. Chris Kacher
www.virtueofselfishinvesting.com
The Evolution Will Not Be Centralized™

View the article from the CFI.co app (download from iTunes or Google Play).

About the Author - Dr Chris Kacher Cryptotech / Nuclear physicist turned stock market wizard (KPMG audited) / Top 40 charted musician / Bestselling author

Dr Kacher is CEO of Creative Group Trading, Inc., an investment and trading vehicle for cryptocurrencies. He founded one of the first Internet-based stock advisory services in 1995 then went on to generate triple digit % returns for 6 years in a row during the 1995-2000 period before moving to cash for most of the 2000-2002 bear market. He has published numerous works including 4 books through Wiley & Sons including Bestseller "How We Made 18,000% in the Stock Market" available in five languages.

Dr Chris Kacher has appeared in major business media including CNBC, Reuters and Bloomberg and was a regular contributor to MarketWatch among others until 2012-2013 when he became involved in the blockchain.

Dr Kacher received his PhD in Nuclear Physics from University of California at Berkeley. He co-created Element 110 on the Periodic Table of Elements and "confirmed" the existence of Element 106 which his team named Seaborgium after Nobel Laureate Dr. Glenn Seaborg who discovered plutonium and supervised Dr. Kacher's work as a doctoral student at UC Berkeley.


Didier Drogba: Just Do It

At a time when transfer sums seldom exceeded seven digits, Didier Drogba’s £24m move to Chelsea in 2004 both broke the record and caused a global buzz.

Drogba did not disappoint his London club and went on to help Chelsea to its first Premier League win in half a century – a feat he repeated the next year. During his eight years at the landmark club, owned since 2003 by Russian billionaire and philanthropist Roman Abramovich, Drogba made over 250 appearances on the pitch, delivering 104 goals.

The player was especially appreciated for his scoring average in decisive games, setting the counter in motion 10 times in 10 finals. With dependable precision, and an almost stoic dedication to forcing a win, Didier Drogba represented the ultimate big game striker – not, perhaps, the best player of all time, but most certainly one who could be counted on to deliver.

Then came a three-year interlude in China and Turkey, where he played for Galatasaray, a club which has a knack for attracting waning star players. Drogba returned to Chelsea for a triumphant farewell season (2014-2015) where he again helped to secure the league title. Departing for Canada the next year, Drogba joined the Montreal Impact for two seasons before moving south of the border to the relatively obscure Phoenix Rising, a team playing in the United Soccer League – the second division of US football. Drogba acquired a stake in the Arizona club and now seeks to push it all the way to the Western Conference of the Major Soccer League. That would see his investment in the club balloon.

As arguably the best-known son of the Ivory Coast, Didier Drogba always reserved some of his best moves for his country’s national team, scoring 65 goals in 104 matches and participating in three world cup tournaments, twice as captain of the squad.

Named UNDP goodwill ambassador in 2007, Drogba is committed to the eradication of malaria which still causes up to half a million preventable deaths each year. The player also signed on to a number of programmes that fight HIV/AIDS and increase public awareness of the disease. He donated the $5m fee he received for being the African face of Pepsi towards the building of a hospital in Abidjan, and joined up with Bono and Nike to raise funds for the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients, noting that the infection can be tamed, and lives saved, for as little as 40 cents per day.

He was known on the pitch for using his physique to find a way through and his wits to quickly exploit open spaces. Drogba is determined to deploy his creative qualities to help improve public healthcare across Africa, noting that, more often than not, people die for want of medication. “Lives are lost because insulin is unavailable or some cheap pill cannot be had,” he said. “It’s the basics that need to be put into place first. This can be done easily and cheaply, and saves countless lives.”

As UNDP goodwill ambassador, Drogba is particularly keen to help implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that target the reduction of poverty and want. At home, the player has been praised for his relentless work to promote national unity and the healing of the deep wounds caused by two civil wars.

Named by Time magazine as one of the 10 most influential people – alongside world leaders such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama – Didier Drogba has remained true to his roots and a good man to boot: straightforward both on and off the pitch, the Ivorian player does not need a panel of academics to tell him what is wrong with the world and how to fix it.

In a soccer match, too much interplay often wrongfoots an attack. In the same way, the solution to many of the world’s problems is most likely to be found along a straight line that points at the desired outcome. Just Do It.


Nikolaj Coster-WaLdau: Indomitable

Helping stave off the advance of the White Walkers who threatens the North, Jamie Lannister promises a very satisfying end to the Game of Thrones saga which is now approaching its grand finale.

Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who earlier this year received an Emmy for his role as knight of the King’s Guard, refuses to lift the veil that covers the seven kingdoms as they prepare for the ultimate clash of civilisations.

Off-screen, Coster-Waldau has teamed up with Google to map the impact of global warming on Greenland, using Street View to create awareness of global warming and its devastating effects on the environment. He has written frontline reports for National Geographic from the Arctic wilderness to show how even one- or two-tenths of a degree changes nature and devastates the livelihoods of all who depend on it.

Coster-Waldau also filed a series of reports from the Maldives which, at its highest point, rises just 2.4m above the surface of the Indian Ocean. In his writings, Coster-Waldau details the interaction between Greenland’s melting icecap and the rising sea level which may submerge a number of small island-nations, or expose them to tidal waves. Coster-Waldau notes and emphasises that without climate action, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) formulated to end world poverty are, essentially, meaningless: “Fighting climate change is a key piece of the entire puzzle without which it cannot be completed.”

As UNDP goodwill ambassador, the Danish actor and playwright has consistently tried to raise public awareness about global warming and urges governments and civil society to act decisively in the implementation of the 2015 Paris Accords. Coster-Waldau sees in the existentialist threat a way to unify the global community, and argues that a collective and concerted approach may come to bridge differences that often cause strife.

The actor has also been closely involved with the joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative which aims to eradicate violence against girls and women. A father to two girls, Coster-Waldau is a passionate believer in gender equality. Leveraging his fame to become an agent of change, the actor is sure that he can help make a difference. The Spotlight Initiative received $500m to launch a sustained drive, and deploy the full power of its twin backers, to end all forms of gender discrimination and violence. To accomplish this, the initiative helps countries to strengthen legislative frameworks and to adopt policies that promote gender equality, and thus facilitate the implementation of a number of SDGs.
Starring in the soon-to-be-released crime-thriller Domino – which marks the return to the silver screen of director Brian De Palma after an absence of almost six years – Coster-Waldau continues to craft the extraordinary career which started with Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Copenhagen and developed into a Hollywood fairy tale. Stateside, Coster-Waldau got his first break from director Ridley Scott, who invited him to a role in his epic Black Hawk Down movie. However, the Danish actor became a household name only after appearing in HBO’s Game of Thrones, one of the best-watched series/franchises of all time.

In September, Coster-Waldau joined the Pathway To Paris concert at The Masonic in San Francisco, which crowned the Global Climate Action Summit that explored the role cities can play in the fight against global warming. The concert in San Francisco was the fourth of its kind: a renewed call to action by artists, thinkers, civic leaders, and other stakeholders. Coster-Waldau is a firm backer of the 1,000 Cities initiative that seeks ways to wean urbanites off fossil fuels.

As fans eagerly await the release of the last six Game Of Thrones episodes, the world is busy speculating on Jamie Lannister’s fate. Will he be served up as lunch for a dragon or ride off into the sunset after the ice wall has fallen? Notwithstanding the self-destructing scripts handed to the actors, and the cloak of secrecy spun by the producers, a few spoilers have recently surfaced. From the million-dollar-plus payments he received for each of the remaining instalments, it would appear that Jamie Lannister somehow manages to escape the dragons to the very end. He just may live to fight another day.

Just as he does this side of Westeros.


Antonio Banderas: Poverty Steals Potential

Antonio Banderas saw his own country shake off its backwater status and emerge as a progressive nation, leaving poverty and want behind.

He knows this can be done in under a generation, requiring but determination and dedication. In 1960, when the actor was born, Spain was poor, isolated, demoralised, and traumatised by its civil war. When he came of age, in the early 1980s, the country was in the midst of La Movida Madrileña, a countercultural movement that swept the nation clean of the leaden heritage left by the Franco dictatorship. While civil society blossomed, the economy surged ahead, swiftly propelling Spain into the European Union and the ranks of the world’s most prosperous nations.

Banderas built his career on the country’s rising tide, and on its openness and inclusiveness. Cast by director Pedro Almodóvar as a gay man in 1987’s Law of Desire (La Ley Del Deseo), he helped break down lingering barriers and prejudices. The film served as both run-up and inspiration to the blockbuster Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown – a comedy/drama noir about “someone you know” – which swept the Goya Awards and gave both the director and his lead actor a global audience.

For Banderas, Hollywood beckoned and though struggling with the English language and forced to learn his lines phonetically, the Spanish actor became an instant sensation with roles that paired him to Tinseltown’s greats, such as Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Sylvester Stallone, and Salma Hayek. More than just the Latin Lover he was initially required to play, Banderas soon diversified into musicals, voice-overs (Shrek’s Puss In Boots), business, and worthy causes.

A UNDP goodwill ambassador since 2010, Antonio Banderas regularly calls on his worldwide fanbase to support victims of violence, hunger, or natural disasters. He does not for a moment doubt that the knowledge, means, and tools are already available to defeat poverty and stop violence. “Poverty,” he says, “robs people of their potential and prevents them from being all they can be. This is why we need to mobilise all our efforts to end it.”

Banderas has lent his instantly recognisable voice to a number of short movies and documentaries that seek to raise awareness of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are aimed at diminishing, if not ending, poverty, and a host of other debilitating societal ills, by 2030. The actor has also signed on to the global campaign against gender-based discrimination and violence.

Praised for his philanthropy and efforts to combat social iniquities, Banderas has been slightly less fortunate when it comes to politics, regretting his 2013 faux pas when he called upon the governments of Europe to emulate the policies of Venezuela – a country that was run into the ground by good intentions.

In Spain, the actor is appreciated for his efforts to help small business gain a global market for their niche products, such as specialty wines and fragrances. He has partnered with a number of premier brands to promote their products, careful only to support sustainable businesses that minimise their ecological footprint and adhere to socially sound policies.

Set to star in a biopic on the life of Ferruccio Lamborghini slated for release next year, Banderas’ career is destined for new heights. Lamborghini tells the unlikely but all-too-real story of a farmer who decides to build his own tractor and ends up a purveyor of supercars. The film is one of two biopics shortly hitting the screens celebrating the lives of Italy’s twin automotive geniuses. A biopic on the life of Enzo Ferrari is also being shot.

Banderas has now also teamed-up with Amazon to produce the new series entitled Life Itself. Set in both the US and Spain, the romantic drama explores and celebrates the human condition in all its breadth.

It is, as such, what Banderas wishes: that all people be given a chance to escape the clutches of poverty and explore their potential.


Jean-Claude Juncker: Holding the EU’s Ground

[caption id="attachment_12072" align="alignright" width="300"] Jean-Claude Juncker President of the European Commission[/caption]

The butt of many jokes – not all of them in good taste – and a man who some love to hate, Jean-Claude Juncker has grown a thick skin and is not easily perturbed as he goes about defending the “magnificent” edifice Europe built over two generations.

In fact, the president of the European Commission has pretty much seen it all during a career spanning 30 years in politics. In Brussels, Juncker was initially dismissed as a lightweight, and hence inoffensive, bureaucrat from tiny Luxembourg. He reached the top by proving his critics wrong.

What makes Jean-Claude Juncker endearing is his irrepressible and rather droll sense of humour, which pops up unexpectedly and often defuses tension. However, no-one can “play nice” all the time, and Juncker is no exception.

Early October, the commission president lashed out at those who suggested that the EU should consider sacrificing Ireland – a member state – in order to accommodate the United Kingdom over the thorny and intractable issue of Northern Ireland and its border. In no uncertain terms, and dispensing diplomatic niceties, Juncker bluntly told all who cared to listen that the EU will put Ireland first, and was not about to contemplate any solution to the border conundrum that meets with objections from Dublin.

The favourite bogeyman of the British, alongside the stoic Michel Barnier – who is in charge of the actual exit negotiations with the UK – Juncker is not always appreciated for spelling out some inconvenient truths about life. He once summarised the paradox facing all politicians: “We all know what to do, we just don’t know how to get re-elected after we’ve done it.” His ability to boil down highly complex events into just a few words is equally remarkable, such as when commenting on the rise of the far right: “The populists themselves are dangerous, but they become far more so when traditional parties adopt their proposals.”

At ease among the world’s great leaders, and not at all impressed by displays of imperial power in Washington, Beijing , Moscow, or, indeed, London, Juncker is aware that a united Europe not only sits at the top table but sets the agenda. Equally experienced at both power politics on a global scale and the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring that is a prerequisite for any diplomat representing a geopolitical footnote – such as Luxembourg – Juncker has deftly managed to keep the EU unified in the face of some of the bloc’s greatest challenges.

His performance has been all the more impressive given the fact that as commission president, he is merely charged with carrying out the policy set by the European Council, which comprises the EU’s heads of government. Within the overall framework handed down by the council, the European Commission, the union’s executive branch, enjoys considerable leeway to turn abstract ideas into solid decisions.

While his job is dead serious, Juncker is often a little bit less so. He has appeared on front pages across the world, kissing the (bald) prime minister of Belgium on the head, and hailed the arrival of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at a meeting by announcing: “Here comes the dictator.” He can be scathing in his criticism of those slightly less dedicated to the cause of a united Europe, calling the European Parliament “ridiculous” after only a few members showed up for a debate on Malta’s performance as the rotating chair of the EU. He doggedly held his ground, even as the EP’s president demanded respect for the institution.

Juncker is not in the business of ceding ground. It is what made him into “Mr Europe”. Some may not like his blunt style of leadership, but most respect – perhaps grudgingly – his stance on keeping the union together, and on calling recalcitrant member states into line. That said, Juncker does consider the imminent departure of the UK a defeat for the EU – and a personal failure.

Brexit is happening on his watch, and shows, if anything, that keeping an unruly group of nations together is a job even the most experienced and cunning find difficult to deliver. This also helps explain why, in the face of British demands for post-Brexits opt-ins, Juncker holds his ground.

The last thing he wants is to reward those that quit.


Paul P Andrews: Keeping Up with Fast-Changing Equity Markets

[caption id="attachment_13174" align="alignright" width="300"] Paul P Andrews Secretary-General, IOSCO (Int. Org. of Securities Commissions)[/caption]

The second annual World Investor Week (WIW) kicked off early October with a global initiative to improve the education and protection of investors.

Regulators, exchanges, investor associations, and other stakeholders in more than 80 countries joined forces to launch a series of educational campaigns aimed primarily at small investors. The event also offered an opportunity to advocate for the introduction of measures that shield capital market participants against unfair practices.

World Investor Week is organised by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the Madrid-based entity founded in 1985 to represent the world’s securities regulators. IOSCO, among others, is charged with reducing systemic risk by developing and setting regulation. The organisation also helps stock exchanges deal with technology and maintains a framework for the monitoring of cross-border and intra-market investments.

According to IOSCO Secretary-General Paul P Andrews, one of the organisation’s main jobs is to help investors manage their capital in a world that is increasingly interconnected – and changing. Rapid advances in technology not only offer new opportunities, but also add complexity to a market already difficult to navigate for most smaller investors. “We need to prepare retail investors for dealing with innovation,” he says.

This year’s WIW highlighted the joys and risks of online trading with a particular focus on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). In France, a national campaign broadcasted on radio sought to spread the concept of wise investing, with warnings about the dangers of following hypes or hunches, and recommendations on where and how to source dependable investment data. The spread of fake news and alt-truth is also a concern to financial editors and writers who battle fads that can potentially cause immeasurable harm to retail investors unable to separate fact from fiction.

In an event running parallel to WIW, World Financial Planning Day saw 26 organisations, representing some 175,000 certified financial planners, promote financial literacy and raise awareness about the long-term benefits of home ownership, retirement planning, and responsible investment practices.

Although IOSCO does not itself have a mandate to help members develop their equity markets, the organisation does offer advice and assistance to jurisdictions that seek to deepen and broaden them. The formula, says Andrews, is a relatively simple one: create a more complete market. “For example, institutional investors usually look for opportunities to hedge,” he says. “In order to attract this type of investor, it is necessary to have options, futures, and currency markets in place. These add-ons also help provide liquidity to the equity market. IOSCO is currently looking into ways of helping with the development of more complete markets in places that could benefit from them.”

Andrews points out that as a global setter of standards, his organisation is moving closer to similar entities such as the Basel Committee, the Financial Stability Board, and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures in order to explore commonalities and address shared areas of concern such as, for example, cyber security. “There is no competitive advantage for different regulators – be they capital markets, banking, or infrastructure. We are all facing the same problems.”

IOSCO also seeks to engage the wider industry and accepts stock exchanges and stock market associations as non-voting affiliate members: “We can learn from each other. The industry brings a wealth of experience and knowledge which allows our organisation to explore new approaches and ideas.”

Andrews highlights the alignment between IOSCO and the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) which helps the organisation keep tabs on financial innovation. This close co-operation allows IOSCO to meet new regulatory challenges and keep its capacity-building programmes up-to-date.


Mukhisa Kituyi: Growing Intra-African Trade Flows

[caption id="attachment_13170" align="alignright" width="300"] Mukhisa Kituyi Secretary-General, UNCTAD[/caption]

What Africa sells to Africa has significantly more value than what the continent sells to the wider world – mostly commodities whose prices are determined on distant shores and cannot be controlled by the producers.

Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) strongly believes that the key to Africa’s future is to be found in intra-regional trade. Putting theory into practice, Kituyi has been closely involved in setting up the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which is to encompass all member states of the African Union (AU). It will also remove all tariffs on about 90% of goods and services, potentially becoming the world’s largest free-trade area.

AfCFTA will automatically come into force when at least 22 of the 55 participating states ratify the deal hammered out and signed by the heads of state during a special meeting earlier this year in Kigali, Rwanda. Thus far seven countries – Kenya, Swaziland, Niger, Guinea, Rwanda, Chad, and Ghana – have already ratified the agreement. AU Commissioner of Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga is confident that by the middle of next year at least 15 more countries will have completed the ratification procedure, allowing AfCFTA to be launched. Meanwhile, the Tripartite Free Trade Area is nearing completion. This Cape-to-Cairo initiative aims to establish a single market comprised of three currently separate free-trade areas: the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the East African Community (EAC).

For Kituyi the implementation of these overlapping free-trade areas cannot come soon enough. “For Africa, a clear determination to expand trade among ourselves is an important step,” he says. “Uncertainties in international trade increase the premium on regional intra-African trade.” The UNCTAD secretary-general also notes that stronger trade flows will inevitably lead to improved competitiveness which could later be unleashed. Kituyi warns, however, against the imposition of non-tariffs barriers by governments eager to protect their home turf. “When there is a deficit of political goodwill, excuses are made to slow-down trade. That absence of goodwill leads to the use of too many non-tariff measures,” said Kituyi.

The UNCTAD secretary-general is particularly concerned for small traders, who are often at the mercy of petty officials trying to extract some “fine” or “tariff” invented on-the-spot. They are also frequently arrested for violating some obscure, non-existent, or randomly enforced rule. According to a study by the East African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI), traders face a bewildering array of obstacles, including lack of capital, information, fierce competition, and high taxes. But EASSI researchers found that the apparent disconnect between border officials and the laws and regulations they are meant to enforce poses the greatest obstacle to cross-border trade.

Kituyi is aware of the problem and expects the free-trade initiatives currently being deployed to smooth the path for large and small traders. There is much to gain for all concerned. A study by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa predicts that, once AfCFTA comes into being, continental cross-border trade will increase by at least 50% over a four-year period.

Africa is moving towards free trade, and the rest of the world seems to be drifting in the opposite direction. This is a development that causes Kituyi concern. He detected a “crisis in multilateralism” that has taken intergovernmental entities such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by surprise. Kituyi worries about the impact of the imminent departure of the UK from the European Union on world trade flows. The tit-for-tat trade wars between the US and its principal partners in Asia and Europe have also changed the immediate economic outlook. Kituyi fears the tide may be turning with a revival of protectionism and a reversal of capital flows from developing nations. It is one of the many reasons why the UNCTAD secretary-general is passionate about fostering and growing intra-regional trade: it allows Africans to take the continent’s destiny in their hands and pursue sustainable, home-grown solutions for growth, independent of tectonic shifts occurring elsewhere.


Agustín Carstens: Central Banker of Central Banks

[caption id="attachment_13161" align="alignright" width="197"] Agustín Carstens General Manager, BIS (Bank of International Settlements)[/caption]

In an unexpected volte-face, BIS (Bank of International Settlements) general manager Agustín Carstens agreed that cryptocurrencies do not, after all, pose a risk to the global financial system.
Carstens is finally paying attention to a phenomenon he previously discarded as a “combination of a bubble, Ponzi scheme, and environmental disaster”. When the BIS general manager takes note, mainstream cannot be that far away.

In a new report on the rise and impact of virtual money, Carstens notes that the value of cryptocurrencies is determined, to a large extent, by national legislation. Emerging frameworks that seek to regulate Bitcoin and other alternative currencies are anchored for the most part on the point where virtual money interacts with the real thing: banks. Sooner or later, cryptocurrencies must be exchanged for actual money and when this happens, regulators can step in.

Carstens agrees that the situation is likely to change when cryptocurrencies grow out of their niche and move mainstream, lessening the need to interact with actual money. However, that moment is still far away. However, the BIS general manager does caution against ignoring the cryptocurrency scene and advises regulators to keep close tabs on developments: “It is important to remain vigilant, monitor developments, and respond to potential threats.”

According to BIS research, cryptocurrencies are sensitive to regulatory decisions that ban or restrict initial coin offerings (ICOs) or regulate the legal status of assets denominated in alternative currencies.

This works both ways: cryptocurrencies receive a boost wherever regulators display a willingness to accommodate them. In this regard, the cryptocurrency community is anxiously awaiting a ruling from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) whether to allow Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) to be launched. The decision may come as early as next year.
Carstens notes that the crypto market remains fragmented, and offers plenty of room for arbitrage as significant price differences occur across jurisdictions, reflecting their attitudes – and degree of hostility – towards alternatives to fiat money.

General manager of the BIS since September 2017, Carstens arrived at the institution from the Central Bank of Mexico which he headed for seven years. His appointment to the “central bank of central banks” was, at the time, widely considered a consolation prize for having lost out to Christine Lagarde in the race for the directorship of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Carstens served for slightly over three years as the IMF’s deputy managing director.

Established in 1930 and headquartered in Basel, the Bank of International Settlements is owned by 60 central banks – jointly representing almost 95% of global GDP – and charged with facilitating international co-operation between central banks. A fringe institution until the early 1970s, and at various times slated for dissolution, BIS reinvented itself after the collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary order which resulted in the reappearance of floating exchange rates and the need for an institution to help maintain financial stability.

During the most recent annual Jackson Hole get-together of central bankers, Carstens did issue a warning against trade wars, saying their potential to disrupt a finely tuned global system is consistently underestimated. He spoke about the brewing of a perfect storm, set off by a rise in protectionist measures and fuelled by their negative consequences. Causing fireworks at a usually tranquil, if not boring, event, Carstens did not mince his words when he remarked that the trade barriers erected by the US administration – and answered in kind by both the EU and China – are likely to push up consumer prices. This, in turn, would force the US Federal Reserve to step-up its interest rate hikes, which “would widen the interest premium to the rest of the world”, and could push the dollar higher.

The BIS general manager concluded that current policy presents a double whammy to US exporters, which would face not only new trade barriers but also a deteriorated exchange rate.
Emerging markets, Carstens argues, are at risk from increased market volatility, as a higher dollar and restrictive monetary policies drain the pool of funds available for their development, and cause higher financial outflows as yield may be more easily be obtained in mature markets.