WARC (November 28)
Carbon offsets hearken back to the pre-crash CDO market. In 47% of the transactions Bloomberg recently analyzed, there was inadequate “information to link them back to a buyer. It is, effectively, an opaque market…. The trouble is that this confirms many people’s – often correct – perception that they can’t trust what most brands tell them about their carbon footprint.”
Tags: Bloomberg, Brands, Buyer, Carbon footprint, Carbon offsets, CDO market, Inadequate, Link, Opaque market, Perception, Pre-crash, Transactions, Trust
Reuters (April 20)
“A month after the London Metal Exchange (LME) suspended nickel transactions and cancelled trades amid an epic short squeeze, the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the LME itself have launched reviews into what went wrong. They will need to substantially strengthen the world’s premier metal trading venue if it is to survive likely future turbulence.”
Tags: BOE, Cancelled, Financial Conduct Authority, LME, Metal, Nickel, Reviews, Short squeeze, Suspended, Trades, Transactions, Turbulence
The Economist (October 31)
“Bitcoin’s shady image causes people to overlook the extraordinary potential of the ‘blockchain,’ the technology that underpins it.” Blockchain technology “lets people who have no particular confidence in each other collaborate without having to go through a neutral central authority” and Bitcoin’s innovation carries a significance stretching far beyond cryptocurrency. This “machine for creating trust” could eliminate the need (and cost) for institutions like banks and clearing houses that handle many existing transactions.
Tags: Authority, Banks, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Clearing houses, Confidence, Cryptocurrency, Innovation, Potential, Significance, Technology, Transactions
Wall Street Journal (May 9)
“Driven by a surge in international interest, total commercial property transactions in Tokyo jumped 71% to $10.1 billion from the same period last year, leaping above New York and London.” Tokyo’s commercial real estate market was the largest in the world during the first quarter of 2014. This marked “the first time the Japanese capital has topped an ongoing survey of the world’s major cities launched a decade ago.”
Tags: Commercial property, Japan、New York, London, Market, Real estate, Surge, Tokyo, Transactions
Financial Times (December 26)
Buoyed by demand from Asia, London’s real estate market has rebounded, reaching the highest transaction value since the financial crisis. Most of the interest is focused on London, creating “a widening fissure between the capital and the rest of the UK property market.” For that matter, “investment in London has been so heavy that the UK capital alone now represents a larger commercial property market than any single country in Europe.”
Tags: Asia, Europe, London, Real estate, Transactions, UK
