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Daily Archives: February 2, 2014

Trade finance: developments and issues

“This report – Trade finance: developments and issues, prepared by a Working Group chaired by John Clark (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) – examines the structure and recent evolution of the global trade finance market, and the interplay between changes in trade finance and international trade. In particular, it reviews the available data sources and what they reveal about the size and evolution of the market, sheds light on the performance and impact of trade finance during recent episodes of funding strains in global markets, and examines how ongoing structural changes may affect the market’s future resilience. In terms of financial stability risks, it concludes that losses on trade finance portfolios historically have been low. Moreover, given their short-term nature, banks have been able to quickly reduce their exposures in times of stress. However, this latter feature also introduces the possibility for trade finance to act as a conduit of stress from the financial system to the real economy, when banks run down trade finance books in response to funding and liquidity strains. As a result, policies that broadly address banking system capital and liquidity vulnerabilities and encourage vibrant competition are found to generally provide an effective means for avoiding or containing disruptions to trade finance flows – current regulatory efforts clearly work in this direction.”

Long-term finance: can emerging capital markets help?

BIS Papers No 75 – January 2014. “The volume presents and summarises the proceedings of the high level seminar jointly organised by the Bank of Russia and the Bank for International Settlements in Moscow on 18-20 July 2013 during the G20 meetings. Governors and deputy governors from around 30 BIS shareholder banks participated along with academic… Continue Reading

CRS – Federal Employees’ Retirement System

Federal Employees’ Retirement System: Benefits and Financing, by Katelin P. Isaacs, Analyst in Income Security. January 30, 2014. “Most civilian federal employees who were hired before 1984 are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). Federal employees hired in 1984 or later are covered by the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS). Both CSRS and FERS require participants to… Continue Reading

IMF Paper – Sub-National Credit Risk and Sovereign Bailouts

IMF Working Paper. Sub-National Credit Risk and Sovereign Bailouts: Who Pays the Premium? by E. Jenkner; Zhongjin Lu. January 30, 2014. “Studies have shown that markets may underprice sub-national governments’ risk on the implicit assumption that these entities would be bailed out by their central government in case of financial difficulties. However, the question of whether sovereigns pay… Continue Reading

IMF Paper – Sovereign CDS Spreads in Europe

IMF Working Paper: European Department. Sovereign CDS Spreads in Europe – The Role of Global Risk Aversion, Economic Fundamentals, Liquidity, and Spillovers. Prepared by Frigyes Ferdinand Heinz, Yan Sun.  January 28, 2014. “By analysing data from January 2007 to December 2012 in a panel GLS error correction framework we find that European countries’ sovereign CDS spreads are largely… Continue Reading

DOD/GSA Report – Improving Cybersecurity and Resilience through Acquisition

“On February 12th, 2013, the President issued Executive Order 13636, entitled Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (EO 13636).  In accordance with Section 8(e), GSA and the Department of Defense submitted recommendations to the President addressing the feasibility, benefits, and merits of incorporating cybersecurity standards into acquisition planning and contract administration, and harmonizing procurement requirements. The jointly authored report… Continue Reading

ABA – 10 Tips for Avoiding Ethical Lapses When Using Social Media

“You may be among the thousands of legal professionals flocking to social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ to expand your professional presence in the emerging digital frontier. If so, have you paused to consider how the ethics rules apply to your online activities? You should. Some of the ethical constraints that apply to your social media usage… Continue Reading

The Glass Boardroom: The SEC’s Role in Cracking the Door Open so Women May Enter

Tamara S. Smallman, The Glass Boardroom: The SEC’s Role in Cracking the Door Open so Women May Enter, 2013 Colum. Bus. L. Rev. 801 (2013). “This Note explores the current status of gender diversity disclosures under the SEC’s 2009 Proxy Disclosure Enhancements. It draws on original data compiled from the Fortune 50’s 2012 proxies in its analysis of… Continue Reading

Cornell University Digital Literacy Resource

The Digital Literacy Project – Cornell University: “Digital literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet. As a Cornell student, activities including writing papers, creating multimedia presentations, and posting information about yourself or others online are all a part of your day-to-day life, and all of… Continue Reading

Microsoft Research adopts Open Access policy for publications

Microsoft Research Connections Blog: “In a recent interview with Scientific American, Peter Lee, head of Microsoft Research, discussed three main motivations for basic research at Microsoft. The first relates to an aspiration to advance human knowledge, the second derives from a culture that relies deeply on the ambitions of individual researchers, and the last concerns “promoting… Continue Reading