Swatantra

Lehman Brothers’ stock was selling at $86 a share in February 2007, giving the company a market capitalisation of nearly $60 billion. For the year, the company reported a new record high in net income, over $4 billion. In January 2008, Lehman Brothers was the fourth-largest investment bank in the U.S. In March, immediately after Bear Stearns (the second largest holder of mortgage backed securities, right after Lehman Brothers) almost collapsed, Lehman stock dropped by almost 50%. In June, the company reported a quarterly loss of $2.8 billion, its first quarterly loss since being spun off from American Express way back in 1994. By the end of 2008, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. had vanished from the investment banking landscape, the largest corporate bankruptcy filing (with $619  billion  in debt) in U.S. history.   The Beginnings of Lehman Brothers            Source: HBS Lehman Brothers was founded in t...

Deutsche Bank, where do we begin? Once upon a time, it was seen as one of Europe’s strongest bank. But the German bank has been plagued by a series of contravertial issues. If we take a look at the bank’s stock price over time, we can observe that after recovering from the financial crisis in 2008, the company lost almost 75% of its market value. And today we will explore some of the reasons for that decline.         Source: The New York Times Deutsche has paid   18 billion dollars in fines this decade, with more than 10 billion dollars occurring in the last five years. In 2015, it was fined 2.5 billion dollars by US and UK regulators for its role in rigging the Libor scandal. Moreover, in that same year, it was further fined 258 million dollars for violating US sanctions against Iran and Syria. In 2008, Deutsche was among the leaders in mortgage backed securities. Not only was it selling toxic investments but it was also betting against the produ...

CBDC is short for Central Bank Digital Currency. It's an electronic form of central bank money that citizens can use to make digital payments or deposit. A CBDC is a digital currency, it's issued by a central bank, and is universally accessible.                Source:Forbes What is a Central digital currency (CBDC)? Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have recently emerged as a hot topic in the financial space. Banks, Institutions, and governments are performing research and analysis on the economic and technical feasibility of introducing a new form of digital money and its impact on monetary and fiscal policy. A Bank of International Settlements report states that over 80% of central banks are already researching CBDC. It begs the question: why are these institutions preoccupied with CBDCs?  CBDCs explained Cryptocurrencies, as we know them today, are extremely volatile and lack government backing. CBDCs overcome these ...

Introduction China pledged to preserve much of what makes Hong Kong unique when the former British colony was handed over more than two decades ago. Beijing said it would give Hong Kong fifty years to keep its capitalist system and enjoy many freedoms not found in mainland Chinese cities.  But it seems that these promises are fading. In recent years, Beijing has taken what critics say are brazen steps to encroach on Hong Kong’s political system and crack down on dissent. These moves sparked massive protests in Hong Kong and have drawn international condemnation. In 2020, Beijing passed a controversial national security law and arrested dozens of pro-democracy activists and lawmakers, dimming hopes that Hong Kong will ever become a full-fledged democracy. Is Hong Kong part of China?  Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China that has been largely free to manage its own affairs based on “one country ,  two systems,” a nationa...

A pyramid scheme is a fraudulent business practice that involves the building of a network, or “pyramid,” of investors who pay money into the scheme with the hope of earning a high return on their investment. Hierarchical in structure, a pyramid scheme has a single individual or entity at the top of the pyramid, underneath which is an expanding base of investors. An investor pays to participate in the scheme and then recruits other investors to join the pyramid, who subsequently pay money to the investor who recruited them. Pyramid schemes rarely provide an actual product and rely solely on the willingness of recruits to invest money into the scheme. Pyramid schemes are considered a form of business fraud in most countries and are therefore illegal. In most pyramid schemes, the person who originates the scheme sends a letter or other form of communication to a number of individuals. The letter typically describes a business opportunity that promises a high financial reward in a short t...

The term "money laundering" originated from the Mafia group in the United States of America. Mafia groups have made huge amounts of extortion, gambling, etc. and this money is shown as legal money. In India, "money laundering" is popularly known as Hawala transactions. Meaning of Money Laundering: Money Laundering refers to converting illegally earned money into legitimate money. So Money Laundering is a way to hide the illegally acquired money. In the method of money laundering; money is invested in such a way that even the investigating agencies can’t trace the main source of wealth.  The person who manipulates this money is called "launderer". So the black money invested into capital markets or other ventures returns back to the real money holder as the legitimate money. Steps involved in Process of Money Laundering: 1.  Placement 2 . Layering 3.  Integration 1. Placement:  The first step in this process is the investment of black money in t...

It was December 1989, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and in Dresden, crowds were gathering outside the headquarters of the Stasi, the East German secret police, shouting insults and demanding access. Nearby, frantic KGB officers – the Soviet advisers whom the Stasi had long referred to as "the friends" – were barricaded inside their villa, burning papers. "We destroyed everything," remembered one of those officers, Vladimir Putin. "All our communications, our lists of contacts and our agents' networks … We burned so much stuff that the furnace burst." Toward evening, a group of protesters broke away from the Stasi building and started marching toward the KGB villa. Panicked, Putin called the Soviet military command in Dresden and asked for reinforcements. None were forthcoming. "I got the feeling then that the country no longer existed. That it had disappeared," Putin told an interviewer years later. "It was clear the union was ...

The greatest challenger to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule is a man whose name the dictator won’t say and whom he has tried to kill: Alexei Navalny. Having defiantly returned to Russia after surviving a brazen assassination attempt only to be immediately detained and thrown in jail upon arrival, the opposition leader and anti-corruption crusader has rallied tens of thousands of supporters to his cause like never before — a real sign of trouble for Putin’s hold on power. Alexei Navalny has spent over a decade trying to overthrow Putin. Through slick videos, public mobilization, and even an ill-fated presidential run against the autocrat, Navalny has aimed to expose Kremlin corruption and malfeasance. While Navalny’s ultimate goal seems to be to take Putin’s place, not just depose him, few believe he will actually succeed. Still, his campaign has inspired tens of thousands across the country to take to the streets to express their frustration with the regime — man...

The Six Day war was the third large scale military confrontation between Israel and the Arab states which in turn was a result of the political tension that had existed for decades following the founding of Israel in 1948. Due to the territorial disputes that happened during the birth of Israel in 1948, a coalition of Arab nations invaded the Jewish state, leading to the First Arab Israeli War. The invasion failed but Israel lost territories to Jordan*, Egypt and Syria. The second major conflict was during the Suez Crisis of 1956-57 when Israel, with direct support from the United Kingdom and France, invaded Egypt in response to the nationalization of the Suez Canal. It was only the heavy pressure of the United States of America that forced Israel to withdraw from the Suez region in 1967. There was a period of relative calm during the late 1950s and early 1960s but it was only a calm before the coming storm. Arab leaders were not happy at the status-quo at the moment and so...

Botswana's foreign policy has historically put a premium on economic and political integration in southern Africa. This has led to the development of the 12-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), to which Gaborone is host. The SADC has been the primary vehicle for diplomacy in the region, as well as an instrument of regional development. Post-apartheid South Africa has been welcomed as a partner in these regional initiatives. The Southern Africa Costums Union(SACU): The Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which includes Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa, dates to 1910. The SACU has provided duty-free access for Botswana's exports to the larger market in South Africa. However, South Africa's dominant role in the union became increasingly troublesome to other members. Barriers to the import of non-South African capital and consumer goods have caused a good deal of controversy. In 1995, an effort was made to renegotiate the t...

In the years coinciding King Mohammed's rule, Morocco recently celebrated its tenth anniversary of National Human Development Initiative (NHDI). In an effort to improve the status of nearly 10 million poor Moroccans, $6 billion have been invested, to date, in support of more than 719 anti-poverty projects. UN Secretory general(former), Ban Ki-moon appreciated the initiative of Morocco and said that it was a role model to other African countries seeking to achieve the millenium development goals. As a result, many other countries of this continent are seeking to adopt methods followed by Morocco. The important role played by Morocco in supporting human development in Africa are many. A few of them are highlighted below: 1) In terms of security, it has partnered with other African states in the struggle against terrorism. 2) It has good business ties with neighbours and aims at transfer of skill, projects, improvement ...