In ten years’ time, if the digital currencies of central banks become widespread, the role of monetary issuance which began to escape from them nearly fifty years ago should come back to them via the recovery of the power of transaction. (“What if, instead, central banks entered a partnership with the private sector—banks and other financial institutions—and said: you interface with the customer, you store their wealth, you offer interest, advice, loans. But when it comes time to transact, we take over”). It is up to private banks to interface with central banks and companies and individuals, to examine cases on the one hand and advise customers on the other. In addition, customer accounts would be opened directly with the central banks (“an account held directly at the central bank, available to people and firms for retail payments”) and managed online by the customers themselves, as has been happening already for a long time (account tracking, transfers, etc.) as part of a disintermediation of the link between banks of last resort and users (“a digital currency would be a liability of the state, like cash today, not of a private firm”). Figure – Online banking penetration rate for several European [...]

Africa! The second largest continent in the world after Asia, both in size and population, and also one of the poorest is shaken by internal conflicts and wars. But above [...]

European Tourism 2020-2030: The improbable alliance between tourism and protectionism Contrary to the feverish dreams of officials in Brussels and our capitals, fuelled by the prospect of an exponential growth [...]

The IMF and the international financial institutions are preparing reforms of the international monetary system, which must also take into account this double injunction of efficiency (thus of modernity and [...]

The momentum for change is simply breath-taking, as we shall see in this next issue of the GEAB: the invention of new financing systems, the restructuring of the digital world, [...]

Why him? Mukesh Ambani is not an emerging and promising young beginner. On the contrary, the 61-year-old has already made his mark as an Indian business magnate at the head [...]

Since the 2014 Newport Summit, NATO has been proud to have obtained from member states a reaffirmation of the famous principle of 2% of GDP allocated to military spending. But [...]

Investing in silver is not something that all retail investors will immediately consider. The reasons often given for holding back are the high volatility together with some uncertainty as to [...]

We live in an exciting time when elation over long-awaited change is mixed with fear of the risks involved. Our anticipation concerning the reorganisation of the Middle East through the [...]

Bullion and Jewellery For centuries, gold coins and jewellery have been used as small-scale private investments and, for many people today, they remain a good place to start. It must [...]

In terms of trust, gold has a unique profile: it is the only ore that is generally believed to be precious enough to maintain its value over time. Unlike diamonds, [...]

Everyone seems to agree on a soft landing for 2019, if with rather gloomy figures. Landing the Plane is the Goldman Sachs title of their analysis for 2019, although some strategists are [...]

Uncovering false evidence is one of the missions of the GEAB team. At a time when the European Elections campaign is slowly starting to take off, bringing the migration issue [...]

Four major issues have put the central banks and tax administrations on alert: The decentralised character of blockchains: Most blockchains work thanks to a global network of stakeholders, including developers, [...]

Have you noticed that all the efforts to regulate debt, derivatives, banks etc., made following the subprime crisis and meeting with varying degrees of success over the last ten years, [...]

Everyone agrees that, as announced by the International Energy Agency and OPEC, the next peak oil will be around 2025 (2030 for McKinsey), all sectors of production included, whether conventional [...]

If we first look at the number of driving forces, there are a large number, and although some are well known and clear, others are more obscure and less well [...]

The latent financial crisis, the invention of a new world monetary system, the world being shared between China and the United States, American military withdrawal, European disintegration, civil wars and [...]