Markets Insider (October 16)
SEC Chair Gary Gensler “has warned that AI could trigger a financial crisis, as Wall Street rushes to adopt the new technology.” He is calling for “AI regulation that addresses both the underlying AI models built by tech companies and how they are used by Wall Street banks, describing it as a ‘cross-regulatory challenge.’”
Tags: Adopt, AI, Banks, Chair, Financial Crisis, Gensler, Models, New technology, Regulation, Rushes, SEC, Trigger, Wall Street, Warned
LA Times (July 16)
“The financial crisis created by the pandemic prompted executives at hundreds of America’s largest publicly traded companies to voluntarily lower their own base salaries. They made a point of announcing these cuts in news releases and earning calls with analysts.” In many cases, this was a gimmick. In one egregious case, Christopher Nassetta, Hilton’s Chief Executive “opted to forgo his entire base salary for the rest of the year,” amid furloughs and job cuts, but his “compensation package more than doubled to $55.9 million in 2020, compared with $21.4 million in 2019.”
Tags: Analysts, Earning calls, Executives, Financial Crisis, Gimmick, Hilton, Nassetta, News releases, Pandemic, Publicly traded, Salaries
Reuters (September 10)
“Wildfires across the U.S. West are among the sparks from climate change that could ignite a U.S. financial crisis by damaging home values, state tourism and local government budgets.” This was just one of the findings of an advisory panel to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
Tags: Budgets, CFTC, Climate change, Financial Crisis, Findings, Home values, MRAC, Sparks, Tourism, U.S., Wildfires
Investments & Pensions Europe (August Issue)
“Credit investors would be wise to reflect upon the growing debt burden weighing on the global economy.” Debt has surged since the pandemic and it was already at high levels. “Global debt rose by $10trn (€8.9trn) in 2019 to $255trn. At the end of last year, global debt stood at 322% of global GDP, or 40% higher than before the 2008 financial crisis.”
Tags: 2008, 2019, Burden, Credit, Debt, Financial Crisis, GDP, Global economy, Investors, Pandemic, Reflect, Surged
Wall Street Journal (March 18)
“The coronavirus pandemic is devastating global travel, causing business to evaporate and forcing companies to slash payroll in what’s shaping up to be the biggest test the modern travel industry has ever faced.” Travel bans today’s other issues are different from the financial crisis. They “can’t be overcome with cheaper fares or clever marketing.” Moreover, “the crisis could permanently reshape attitudes toward travel, fundamentally changing the landscape for hotels, airlines and cruise companies, and the millions of smaller businesses that make up the industry.”
Tags: Attitudes, Bans, Coronavirus, Crisis, Devastating, Fares, Financial Crisis, Marketing, Pandemic, Payroll, Travel
Reuters (November 29)
“European investors managing assets worth more than 1 trillion pounds ($1.28 trillion) are pressing top auditors to take urgent action on climate-related risks, warning that failure to do so could do more damage than the financial crisis.” The investors assert that the Big Four audit firms “are not giving enough weight to a potentially rapid transition towards a low-carbon future as governments implement the 2015 Paris Agreement to curb climate change.”
Tags: Assets, Auditors, Big Four, Climate change, Damage, Europe, Financial Crisis, Investors, Low-carbon future, Paris Agreement, Risks
Reuters (February 28)
“Factory activity in China contracted to a three-year low in February as export orders fell at the fastest pace since the global financial crisis, highlighting deepening cracks in an economy facing weak demand at home and abroad.”
Tags: China, Cracks, Economy, Exports, Factory, Financial Crisis, Orders, Weak demand
South China Morning Post (September 3)
“Bankers did not cause the 2008 financial crisis…. Instead, blame for the crash lies squarely with the world’s governments. Sure, bankers were both greedy and reckless. But it was government policies that created the conditions in which greed and recklessness were allowed–even required–to flourish.” By ignoring this and “failing to learn from their mistakes, they have made another crash inevitable.”
Tags: Bankers, Blame, Crash, Financial Crisis, Governments, Greedy, Inevitable, Reckless
The Guardian (August 9)
“The era of low interest rates will last for at least another 20 years, despite gently rising official borrowing costs in the coming years, one of the Bank of England’s leading policymakers has forecast.” Outgoing monetary policy committee (MPC) member Ian McCafferty said that “structural changes in the global economy meant UK borrowers and savers should get used to interest rates being “significantly” below the 5% average in the 10 years leading up to the financial crisis.”
Tags: BOE, Borrowing, Costs, Era, Financial Crisis, Global economy, Interest rates, Low, MPC, Structural changes, UK
Barrons (December 30)
“Largely absent during the economy’s eight-year recovery from the financial crisis, inflation is on track to pick up in 2018—and it might just catch investors off-guard.” Even a return to modest inflation, e.g. 2.5%, would be a jolt that “could reshuffle the market.”