Financials

OakNorth Bank Inc. is a digital bank that primarily lends to small and medium-sized companies, offering them financing solutions that are typically limited to larger firms who can access corporate banking services at traditional banks. In addition to loans and digital deposit products, OakNorth offers a forward-looking, cloud-based credit assessment platform that combines AI with…

On 1st April 1602, the Dutch East India Company issued shares in a street-level room just off Dam Square in Amsterdam, creating the first stock market in the world in Amsterdam and marking an important milestone in the history of capitalism. Over 400 years later, on the 11th February 2021, Amsterdam regained a role as…

Over the last decade, index providers have been facing increased scrutiny into their operations as concern has been growing over the power they hold over markets. Whilst regulated in Europe since 2018, the situation differs in the US. Technically classed as data publishers, index providers face little scrutiny from financial regulators, leading some to question…

The global market for financial information totals spending of over 23 billion GBP a year (Burton-Taylor International Consulting 2020) and, as explained below, is an important mechanism in ensuring the stability of financial markets and by extension the economies they operate in. If current projections are correct, the impact of climate and environmental change on financial…

The traditional route for a company to go public is through an initial public offering (IPO). This is a long process whereby companies are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK to disclose extensive financial and business information. More recently, an alternate…

Brexit has inflicted significant damage on the UK financial sector. Since the end of transition period last year, almost 6 billion EUR of EU share trading has shifted from London to the continent, leaving London with half its usual trading volume. Moreover, 1.2 trillion GBP of assets and 7,500 jobs have already been transferred to…

Overall, 2020 was a difficult year for most industries; tourism, hospitality and entertainment rank amongst the worst-hit. However, some of America’s largest investment banks have managed to prosper where others have struggled. As the banks release their 2020 Q4 earnings, it has been revealed how, not only have the largest Wall Street banks survived the…

Decentralised Finance (DeFi) refers to an experimental branch of finance where the centralised intermediaries (banks, exchanges, brokers etc.) between the initiation and closing of a transaction are replaced with alternative decentralised systems. Functionally, these are computer algorithms that do the same job as finance workers, such as bankers and brokers, would have done. The decentralised…

It was announced on November 30th that General Motors (GM) was suspending its investment within electric vehicle manufacturer Nikola Corporation meaning plans to build the new electric pick-up truck in return for a stake in Nikola look increasingly unlikely. Over the past few months, accusations of fraud against Nikola and its founder, Trevor Milton, have…

For as long as criminals have been making illicit gains, methods to conceal the sources have been required. Whilst technology has benefitted law enforcement agencies, it has also inspired new money laundering techniques. The use of ‘money mules’ is one such development – its simplicity and the increasing prevalence of cybercrime is boosting adoption. Technological…