financial governance

The age of strategic fatigue: why great powers are running out of appetite, not capability

At first glance, the global system appears more militarised and confrontational than at any point since the late Cold War; no surprise there with some 60 major conflicts affecting life and limb around the world as we speak. While this is underway, defence budgets are expanding across NATO, East Asia, the Middle East and Russia, [...]

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Difficult Decisions: infrastructure choices, payments, sanctions and alternative networks

Cross-border payments for the most part still run on SWIFT and old-school correspondent banking, but rules are now forcing banks to go real time. Since 9 January 2025, EU banks have been required to receive euro instant payments within 10 seconds, 24/7. By this October, they also need to be able to send them. That

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Sanctions and Secondary Risks: lessons from Russia, Iran and China

Originally aimed at punishing specific nations, sanctions have evolved into a tool for influencing global behaviour, particularly in high-stakes countries like Russia, China and Iran. With the increasing complications of international trade and finance, sanctions have, for some time, not been limited to direct penalties on the targeted countries; they now extend to businesses, their

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Dark Banking: the global impact of illicit underground banking systems

Global underground banking networks like China’s Fei Ch’ien, and the Middle East and Africa’s Hawala, form an extensive and intricate network of financial channels that trade outside the recognised global banking system. They facilitate the movements of billions of dollars’ worth of transfers each year across borders, to serve both legitimate and illicit requirements. In

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