The macroeconomic climate is taking its toll on Turkey's banks, with many predicting a difficult year for the industry. Growth avenues still remain, however, in the commercial loans and small and medium-sized enterprise sectors, not to mention the huge potential of tapping the country's large unbanked population.
Amid global economic stagnation and domestic upheaval, the Egyptian banking sector has performed remarkably steadily. However, one of the key facets behind its success – its conservatism – is coming under increasing criticism from some, who claim its reluctance to lend beyond large corporations and government entities is holding the country back.
Romania's entrance into the EU was met not with the domestic economic development many had predicted, but with a global recession, which sent the country's economy into decline and severely narrowed its banking sector's avenues of growth. Now, the country must overcome a series of challenges if it is to achieve the economic maturity it had envisaged.
The housing market in the US appears to have turned a corner since the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008. But until the government puts clear regulatory guidelines in place, uncertainty surrounding the precise nature of capital rules on mortgages will remain for market participants.
Ahead of Sibos 2012, Gottfried Leibbrandt, chief executive officer of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or Swift, sat down for an exclusive interview with The Banker to discuss the conference agenda and the company's position in a rapidly changing global landscape.
Ahead of Sibos 2012, Gottfried Leibbrandt, chief executive officer of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or Swift, sat down for an exclusive interview with The Banker to discuss the conference agenda and the company's position in a rapidly changing global landscape.
Despite facing crisis conditions in 2011, the Belarusian economy has proven to be remarkably robust, boasting plenty of untapped potential, and there are hopes that its privatisation process will lessen the dominance of large state-owned companies on the country's business landscape.
The people of Scotland will have the opportunity to vote on the country's independence from the rest of the UK in 2014. But while the decision will inevitably be an emotive one, the financial, business and political ramifications cannot be ignored, and it appears that there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding them.
CME Group's senior managing director and chief information officer discusses the need for around the clock coverage and the technology that has allowed the company to provide this across asset classes and with microsecond-level performance.
Aside from global economic woes, perhaps the biggest challenge facing the transaction banking sector at present is a regulatory onslaught of unprecedented proportions. The Banker examines some of the major legislative headaches facing the sector.