Risk

Over 2014 there has been a steady decline in the yield on German government bonds. As a result bunds have outperformed other developed markets. This outperformance could have been driven by two factors...

A new global initiative launched by DNV GL and Monday Morning Global Institute aims to identify opportunities for sustainable responses to a range of global risks. A series of eight workshops around the globe marks the start of the identification process. The results will be published in the first Global Opportunity Report in January 2015.

The recent failure and bail-in of African Bank Limited is isolated and any contagion to the large South African banks is likely to be limited, Fitch Ratings says. It does not change our view of the credit profiles of the largest five banks, so there are no rating changes.

In accordance with the Right Upon Future Offers or RUFO clause (similar to a conventional clause requiring creditors to be treated pari passu) contained in the 2005 agreement on the restructuring of the debt of the exchange bondholders (preventing Argentina from making more favourable repayments to holdouts unless the conditions are the same as for exchange bondholders), the funds paid by Argentina were not handed over to the creditors.

Fitch Ratings says BNP Paribas (BNPP; A+/Stable/a+) has maintained acceptable capital ratios at end-2Q14, despite having reported a large loss resulting from a US sanctions settlement fine, underlining the bank’s capacity to absorb sizeable shocks through its sound balance sheet.