Category: finance

The above title is provocative in a media world rightly focused on ecological catastrophes, popular discontent, risks of war and the financial crisis of 2020. But our mission is not to repeat what everyone knows – that the chaotic world of the beginning of the 21st century is a dangerous place… After all, hasn’t the […]

Monetary Policy – beware of the direction change The shift towards the green colour of the economic indicators linked to the reduction in trade tensions at the end of the year, combined with the rebellion against accommodative monetary policies expressed by major central bankers, suggest a proportional reversal of the trend, particularly in key interest […]

Finance – First openings in the Chinese market Our investment recommendations on the Chinese financial market are not easy to follow due to lack of accessibility. However, gradually the Chinese financial market is opening up to the outside world and the first trading platforms are on the horizon. During our research in Hong Kong, we […]

Between a USD-pegged currency (the HKD) and the reaffirmation of its Chinese nature after its handover in 1997, Hong Kong lies right at the heart of the famous trade war between the United States and China. This context largely explains the island’s economic difficulties, creating the conditions for the well-known troubles. A longer-term perspective also […]

It’s not only Hong Kong that finds itself in the middle of the crossfire of the US-China trade war. The IMF may also be on the list of collateral victims of the great tectonic plate movement currently at work. In recent years, Beijing has increased its voting weight and added the Yuan to the basket […]

While the wave of buzz and hype around cryptocurrencies, or virtual currencies, is running out of steam among people in general,[1] the movement that has emerged remains robust. The versatility of the technology, its deployment in a digital context which can quickly reach millions of people, its potentially anonymous character and the place it could […]

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[1] 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 […]

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 openness to the world) and of acceptability (thus respect for sovereignty). We have already drawn our readers’ attention to Christine Lagarde’s very important speech last […]

Reports are currently proliferating concerning the health of the European banking sector ten years after its great crisis.[1] However, on the one hand, the European banks only managed to get out of it with public funds;[2] on the other, some behemoths are still seen as ticking time bombs[3] (Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank,[4] Monte Paschi[5]…). Finally, the […]

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, new phases in the artificialisation of the land, the establishing of the exit from the oil era… The strongest players in the world system, those […]

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.[1] But the reality is darker. Figure 1 – GDP share allocated to military spending, by country, 2014 and 2018. Source: CNBC.   Even though Trump or […]

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 which investment model one should follow. Is silver a commodity (often projected to fall in price during economic slow-downs) or a currency more akin to […]

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 be noted that new purchases may be subject to VAT and both purchases will carry a considerable mark-up on the daily spot gold price. However, […]

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, for example, it is impossible to make fake gold. Admittedly, the intrinsic value of gold is essentially symbolic, if we think about it; not much […]

There has been much talk in recent years concerning the perceived move towards a cashless society – an increasing tendency to remove physical cash from general circulation and replace it with more modern, electronic forms of payment. This trend is now being increasingly shown through the difficulty in accessing cash together with a push from […]

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, miners, network nodes (with a copy of the registry) and blockchain users. In this context, it is difficult to address an individual entity to require […]

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, are currently systematically undermined, including by the most serious players in the financial system? Here are some examples: On the public debt side, the United […]

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 or unconventional. After that, the supply will fall or collapse, according to forecasters, in spite of population growth (though we will see later that such […]