Open banking: a lifeline for SMEs, or turning into something more? Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are critical to the global economy, accounting for a large portion of job creation and economic growth. Access to financing, however, continues to be a major challenge for many SMEs, especially in developing countries. Open banking is a new approach to financial services that entails the sharing of financial data among various parties, such as banks, financial organizations, and third-party providers. This data can include transactional information, account information, and other financial information that can be used to create a more complete picture of a customer’s financial position. The Advantages of Open Banking in SME Lending By improving access to finance and making it simpler to obtain funding, open banking has the potential to provide numerous benefits to SMEs. Here are some of the most important advantages of open banking in SME lending: Credit Score Enhancement Open banking can help SMEs improve their credit scores by giving a more complete picture of their financial situation. Lenders can create a more accurate image of an

  KEY POINTS   SVB, the 16th biggest bank in the U.S. at the start of last week, had been operational for 40 years and was considered a reliable source of funding for tech startups and venture capital firms. SVB Financial Group’s holdings were hit hard by the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes, and their value dropped dramatically — causing depositors to panic and withdraw their funds. The collapse is more the product of a faulty system than the bank itself, some analysts argue. The fallout from the shuttering of Silicon Valley Bank — the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history — continued Monday, dragging down international banking stocks. European banking stocks were down 6.3% at 12:40 p.m. London time on Monday, after closing 4% lower on Friday, as U.S. financial regulators shut down SVB and took control of its deposits. All major U.S. indexes closed at least 4% lower on the week Friday amid the SVB panic, while regulators shut down Signature Bank — one of the cryptocurrency industry’s main lenders — on Sunday, citing systemic risks. U.S. federal regulators said that all deposits will

The job of central bankers is to keep banks stable and inflation low. Today they face an enormous battle on both fronts. The inflation monster is still untamed, and the financial system looks precarious. Stubbornly high inflation led the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on March 22nd, less than a week after the European Central Bank raised rates, too. The Fed acted days after three midsized American banks had collapsed and Credit Suisse, a grand old Swiss bank with more than SFr500bn ($545bn) in assets, suffered a wounding run that ended in a shotgun wedding with its Swiss rival, ubs. Bankers led by Jamie Dimon, the boss of JPMorgan Chase, are trying to shore up the First Republic, the next teetering domino. The trouble is that central bankers’ two goals look increasingly contradictory. All but the biggest American banks are suffering from the consequences of higher interest rates. Dearer money has reduced the value of their securities portfolios and has made it likelier that depositors will flee to big banks or money-market

SVG FSA Does Not Oversee FX Activity         First of all, let’s get one thing straight, and that is forex activities do not exist in SVG, theoretically. So, there is no so-called FSA-issued FX Brokerage License in reality, and all FSA licenses are corporate registration.           The FSA was founded in 2012, which is still young. Back then, the SVG authorities wished to promote economic growth by developing offshore finance, hence the founding of the regulator. According to the FSA Act, its role is to regulate financial entities such as non-banks within the country. But no license that authorizes trading businesses related to foreign exchange, brokerage, or a binary option is issued by FSA whatsoever. But the regulator does not prohibit a registered International Business Company (IBC) to engage in such activities, and the fact is, a big portion of financial entities registered in SVG are engaged indeed.             On the other hand, the requirements to obtain an SVG FSA license are minimal. Normally, no business plan is

          Long regarded as a backwater in Southeast Asia, Laos is famous for its soporific vibe. So much so that the acronym in the country’s official title — Lao PDR — is often mangled from People’s Democratic Republic to Please Don’t Rush. But the new railway is encouraging a faster pace.        The train links Vientiane with top visitor destinations like Vang Vieng — a karst-studded playground famous for its adventure options — as well as Luang Prabang, the country’s charming former royal capital, and Luang Namtha, with its patchwork of hill tribe minorities and jungle-clad mountains — perfect for trekking and eco-tourism. And it is a potential godsend for a tourism industry that desperately needs visitors in the wake of the pandemic.         Indeed, the semi-high-speed route now opens between Vientiane, just across the Mekong River from Thailand, and Boten, on the border with Yunnan Province in China, is not just revolutionary for Laos: it’s as advanced as any railway infrastructure seen in Southeast Asia until now.      

The collapse of FTX has dealt a catastrophic blow to crypto’s reputation and aspirations.           The fall from grace was hard and fast.  Sam Bankman-Fried was in the stratosphere only a fortnight ago. FTX, his cryptocurrency exchange, then the third-largest, was valued at $32bn; his own wealth was estimated at $16bn. To the gushing venture capitalists (vcs) of Silicon Valley, he was the financial genius who could wow investors while playing video games, destined, perhaps, to become the world’s first trillionaire. In Washington he was the acceptable face of crypto, communing with lawmakers and bankrolling efforts to influence its regulation.           Today there is nothing left but 1m furious creditors, dozens of shaky crypto firms, and a proliferation of regulatory and criminal probes. The high-speed implosion of FTX has dealt a catastrophic blow to an industry with a history of failure and scandals. Never before has crypto looked so criminal, wasteful, and useless.           The more that comes out about the demise of ftx, the more shocking the tale becomes.