Stock markets soared after the eurozone meeting this week. But the head of the German central bank warned "The envisaged leverage instruments are similar to those which were among the origins of the crisis, because they temporarily masked the risks."...
Anyone running a chemical company knows that the benefits of certain key decisions can take years to develop. Many companies had to support their nascent pharma businesses for 20 years, before steady profits began to flow. Whilst major complexes can...
Some readers may remember the 2007 and 2008 reports from the Bank of International Settlements (the central bankers' bank). In July 2007 the blog titled its summary '4 risks to the world economy', and July 2008's was titled 'The difficult...
The chemical industry has benefited from a benign paradigm over the past 25 years: • Demographics in the west have encouraged consumption, as the baby-boom generation reached middle age • Globalisation meant this could be achieved at lower cost, by...
Every now and then, a few interesting quotes come along, which seem to recent summarise developments, and set the tone for the next few months. Recent days have been a good example of this process at work: 'The era of...
Headline interest rates are set by central banks. But the ones that we actually pay, as consumers or companies, are set by the banks themselves. And most of these are based on LIBOR - the London Inter-Bank Offer Rate -...
The head of Germany’s financial regulator is warning that US subprime mortgage problems may be about to lead to the worst banking crisis since 1931. Yesterday, WTI crude broke through its 1980’s highs to hit a new all-time record price...
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries tagged 'Bank for International Setlements'. [What is this?]