Using blockchain to build a world of lotteries and payments, united without borders June 15, 2021 Unlike in countries with mature banking ecosystems, blockchain has a clear path to become the underlying financial rail in Africa.
Ukraine crisis highlights Europe’s dependency on Russian gas March 7, 2022 Russia is currently facing the ire of the world following its illegal invasion of Ukraine, which is bringing misery to millions. It is also the second largest producer of natural gas in the world. It serves European consumers of energy through a number of pipelines. Proximity and the ease of transport means supplies from the [...]
Q&A: Are we heading towards a commodity super-cycle? June 15, 2022 Commodities have achieved strong price gains recently, prompting speculation that we could be in the early stages of a so-called super-cycle; a sustained period of growing demand exceeding supply. Global commodity prices have moved higher in the past few months, partly due to geopolitical issues such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A mismatch of demand [...]
In the lead up to COP26, ministers need to revolutionise procurement policies to meet net zero targets May 14, 2021 Boris Johnson’s bold aim to cut carbon emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 has cemented Britain’s commitment to address the climate crisis in the lead up to COP26 in Glasgow later this year. Questions on delivery remain, however. While we await the Treasury’s much-anticipated Net Zero review, the UK needs to deploy a smart [...]
Mobile rivals raise competition concerns over £31bn O2-Virgin merger January 3, 2021 Rivals have hit out at the planned £31bn mega-merger between O2 and Virgin Media, warning the deal could harm competition in the UK telecoms market. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last month referred the tie-up for an in-depth investigation after the two companies asked the regulator to fast-track its probe. In the full text [...]
Mitigating litigation risk: The impact of corporate social performance factors August 3, 2021 Much has been written on the merits of ESG investing strategies and their ability to deliver comparable, if not superior, performance to traditional benchmarks. A majority of institutional investors are motivated to employ ESG investing strategies because they believe ESG will improve risk adjusted returns1, yet the circumstances in which ESG leads to better outcomes [...]
London’s bosses call on Khan and Shapps to fix ‘broken’ transport system May 11, 2021 The capital’s business leaders have called on Sadiq Khan and Grant Shapps today to fix London’s ‘broken’ transport system. The top signatories included bosses of Canary Wharf, Arcadis, the ExCeL and the New West End Company, who all signed off on the joint letter to the Mayor and Transport Secretary. The letter follows months of political [...]
Crossrail funding remains up in the air despite government commitment November 25, 2020 Questions remain over the immediate future of the Crossrail link despite the government committing to the £19bn project’s completion in today’s National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS). “The government is continuing to address capacity issues in the capital, by financing the completion of Crossrail”, the paper read. But negotiations over the funding package for the rail link [...]
Boris Johnson stands at the crossroads of another Huawei saga if Amazon Web Services crushes UK cloud products June 18, 2021 Cloud computing in the UK is at a crossroads: on one path is a vibrant domestic growth sector able to compete on the international stage, down the other is an industry dominated by a few Big Tech giants and stymied by policy inaction. In recent years, British tech companies are being overlooked time and time [...]
Alternative investments: predictable uncertainty in private markets April 19, 2022 With experience, investment professionals acquire a better understanding of markets, become more confident of their abilities and conclude that they can interpret the world more precisely. The philosopher Karl Popper offered his take on the main issue with such determinism during a 1965 lecture titled ‘Of Clouds and Clocks: An Approach to the Problem of Rationality [...]