With the onset of the global financial crisis and the subsequent squeeze in credit and insurance markets, there is a renewed global demand for export credit and investment insurance products offered by ECAs. Despite previous predictions of the demise of official ECAs, the current global financial crisis has reasserted their position as dominant players in the trade finance markets as they have stepped-in to fill the huge gap left by the private market.

The financial crisis has dramatically changed the…

Since 2007, India and European Union (EU) are negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA). The negotiations not only cover trade in goods but also services, rules pertaining to intellectual property rights, cross-border investments, competition policy, government procurement and regulatory issues. One of the key themes under negotiation is the liberalization of cross-border trade and investment in banking services.

The 70-page Special Report questions the policy framework and objectives of opening up banking sector under the FTA. The report argues that…

Western politicians, business leaders and commentators seem paranoid about state-owned sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), particularly those from the Middle East and China. They fear that SWFs follow strategic political objectives — investing in Western companies and banks to secure control of strategically important industries such as telecommunications, energy and banking – rather than commercial interests.

A protectionist backlash against sovereign wealth funds is fast emerging: the US, Canada, Australia and Germany have introduced substantial legislative changes to screen and restrict…

During the last two decades, private equity became an integral component of the world’s financial system at a time when financial markets overshadowed the productive economy. Private equity was invariably behind the multi-billion buyout deals, and mergers and acquisitions that swept across the US and Europe, creating a new type of corporate conglomerate that is reshaping the way business is conducted.

Insofar as it constitutes a new form of corporate ownership, private equity poses new challenges to labour unions, NGOs…

In recent times, the terms ‘governance’ and ‘good governance’ have become buzzwords in the development discourse. Pushed by powerful international financial institutions, ‘good governance’ has become the cornerstone of development cooperation. Nowadays it is difficult to come across aid packages of multilateral financial institutions and bilateral donors that do not use the term ‘good governance’ and contain ‘governance’ conditionalities.

The governance agenda is full of inherent contradictions and dilemmas. If used technically, it may reinforce the intellectual models and traditional…