The Eurosystem has accepted Scope as a new rating agency alongside Fitch, Moody's, S&P and DBRS. This has a number of implications, including a wider range of credit opinions and expertise being considered for monetary policy purposes. The ECB Blog explains. By Diana Gomes and Anamaria Piloiu Credit rating agencies…
Kylian Marcos (Le Temps): The agricultural sector is currently experiencing a revolt in several European countries. In Switzerland, the revolt is focused on the administrative burden. These are closely linked to subsidies, aren’t they? Isn’t this a trap that has fallen on farmers? Patrick Dümmler (Avenir Suisse): Switzerland’s excessive regulations…
For big multinationals that love tax havens, the start of 2024 was not cause for celebration. On Jan. 1, the European Union, Japan, Canada, and Australia joined other jurisdictions in requiring their largest companies to pay a tax rate of at least 15 percent on their worldwide profits. The moves…
13 February 2024By Imène Rahmouni-Rousseau and Isabel Schnabel[1]When reading data on reinvestments under the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) one needs to understand how we implement purchases. Director General Market Operations Imène Rahmouni-Rousseau and Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel explain how to avoid pitfalls.In March 2020, the ECB launched the…
Rainy days and Mondays (and other things that don’t have to get you down)
In an era of unprecedented global turbulence, the University of Oxford has launched the ‘Global Shocks’ podcast, featuring in-depth interviews with former leaders from the world’s major international organisations on responding to global shocks, adapting to them, and surviving turbulent times such as humanitarian emergencies, war, financial crises, and pandemics.…
Down a gray and gritty alley in San Francisco’s Chinatown, a Victorian-era investigator waved away the sickly fumes emanating from forbidden opium dens, stopped before an unmarked door and rapped on it with his cane. A fictional sleuth? No, it’s a real-life character in George Fisher’s compelling introduction to his…
Being kind to others is great when it comes to personal relationships. But is it great in business? Regular readers of business publications would have noticed an uptick in discussions around the value of kindness in the workplace and how it can be practiced effectively. Kindness has also been increasingly emphasised across…
If a company registers an identical or similar company name in the UK with Companies House, submitting a complaint with the Company Names Tribunal (“CNT”) can be an effective way to challenge them. In a related article, we discussed what you would need to submit a successful complaint, the possible issues that may arise,…
Google's experts walk through the all-too-common cybersecurity mistakes people make online, and what to do instead. Read on to learn more about which habits you should d…
As a company that’s been at the cutting edge of AI development for more than a decade, it’s been hugely encouraging to witness the explosion of creativity from people using our new generative AI tools, like our Meta AI image generator which helps people create pictures with simple text prompts.…
Novo Holdings, the parent company to Novo Nordisk, announced a deal this morning to acquire Catalent, a leading global CDMO known for its broad end-to-end CDMO capabilities. The deal, valuing Catalent at $16.5bn, is designed to help improve supply challenges that have been holding back the growth of their blockbuster…
The youngest generation of shoppers – Gen Alpha – seems to be dominating news headlines lately, flocking into retail stores like Ulta and Sephora over the holiday season as they shop for the perfect products for their 10-step skincare routines and “Get Ready with Me” TikTok videos. As Ulta Beauty’s…
Business continues to play a critical role in society, according to the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer. The survey, which polled more than 32,000 citizens across 28 countries, finds that business is the most trusted institution to integrate innovation into society. Business is also seen as more competent and ethical than governments,…
The latest report from Threat Analysis Group documents the rise of commercial surveillance vendors and the industry that threatens free speech, the free press and the op…
Health After Cancer podcast tackles survivorship, advocacy The Health After Cancer podcast brings together Stanford Medicine physicians, cancer survivors and advocates to discuss issues around cancer survivorship and health after cancer treatment. Author Krista CongerPublished on February 2, 2024February 2, 2024 A young adult grappling with murky memories…
The start of a new year is always a great time for a fresh outlook on your finances. Strong wealth management requires regular reassessments of your financial priorities and this time of year is the perfect period to take stock. Putting thought into how your financial position has changed and…
Are the directors of the company you invested in failing to act in that company’s best interests? You may be able to protect that company’s best interests by bringing a derivative claim against them on behalf of that company, no matter how small your shareholding is in it. The laws…
2023 was a busy year for privacy, and it’s become even more critical to build scalable privacy practices. With that in mind, we’ve invested $5.5 billion in our privacy program since 2019, and have grown the teams focused on privacy to more than 3,000 people. In honor of Data Privacy…
Mergers have become the norm in the telco sector recently. Far EasTone and Asia Pacific Telecom in Taiwan in 2022, True and DTAC in Thailand, as well as Celcom and Digi in Malaysia both in 2023. These represent a global shift towards an era of two-three players in each market, especially…
Verdes sought to invalidate a 3D mark including colour claims for the Rubik’s cube The Board of Appeal agreed with the Cancellation Division that the mark was invalid as it consisted exclusively of the shape of goods necessary to obtain a technical result The absence of ‘shape’ per se does…
Brand owners often struggle to protect their look-and-feel against free riders. A ten-year review of the EUIPO’s case-law shows that the look-and-feel of reputed marks – ranging from their logo, colour scheme to even their typical font – can be protected against imitations of this look-and-feel, even when the word…
When the world was a simpler place, most manufacturers did their work in-house and in their home country. This included product design and innovation; making inputs and assembling them; and sales, marketing, and distribution. In the early 1900s, for example, Ford made almost all of its 15 million Model Ts…
How California is taking on inequity for Black patients during pregnancy, childbirth Across the United States, Black women are three to four times as likely as their white peers to experience life-threatening pregnancy complications or die giving birth Author Erin DigitalePublished on January 31, 2024January 31, 2024 Across the…
Employers looking to enhance their suite of employee benefit programs, and focused on lessons learned during the pandemic on wellbeing, are interested in providing greater access to wellness tools. And, the vendors who support those tools are more than happy to provide them. Global spend in the health and…
The way that change is communicated to any team, whether it’s the change team speaking to the leadership team at the start of a project or leaders speaking to their people further down the line, plays a huge role in how we feel about the future of the business, our…
When a firm’s performance falls short of aspirations, organisational changes can help stop the bleeding and get things back on track. Broadly speaking, firms have two strategic avenues to consider. The first is growth-related strategies to improve the firm’s position and performance, which could range from mergers and acquisitions to introducing…
Few people love the software they use to get things done. And it’s no surprise why. Whether it’s a slide deck builder, a video editor, or a photo enhancer, today’s work tools were conceived decades ago — and it shows! Even best-in-class products often feel either too inflexible and unsophisticated…
29 January 2024By Piero Cipollone, Philip Lane and Isabel SchnabelThe ECB can lend euro to non-euro area central banks to reduce the risk of financial stress spilling over to the euro area. Piero Cipollone, Philip Lane and Isabel Schnabel explain how we have made such liquidity lines more effective and…
Influencing has been the modern means of advertisement in the recent world of marketing. Influencing refers to the ability to have an impact or effect on the thoughts, actions, or behavior of others in promoting products or services through social media platforms. It involves persuasion, communication, and other strategies to…
Setting up as a self-employed individual can have several benefits. Some general advantages are the flexibility this setup offer. Being self-employed often allows for greater flexibility in terms of working hours and locations. You have more control over your schedule, which can be particularly beneficial for those who prefer a…
The technical term for platforms like AirBnb and Task Rabbit is “peer-to-peer exchanges,” but most people know them as part of the sharing economy. The sharing economy, or that part of commerce where individuals share their resources with others for a fee, has been around for thousands of years. Tuck…
2024 is only three weeks old, but it’s clear those waiting for a return to business as usual are missing the moment – and leaders focused on growth have good reason for the spring in their step. Turbulence is priced in Times have changed – turbulence in global affairs is…
Dr. Annette Hofmann is a researcher, author, and leading expert in the field of organizational risk. In this interview with Bhavik Modi, Senior Director, BTS, Dr. Hofmann explains how moving beyond a traditional approach to risk and developing risk leadership competence can help companies become more resilient and profitable—and may…
For many Swiss households, the new year brings higher electricity prices. Compared to 2023, electricity costs for a typical household (H4) will rise over 18 percent on average in 2024. The increase compared to 2021 – when costs began to rise quickly – will be 57 percent. And this, despite…
Last week saw further sections of the Building Safety Act 2022 (the Building Safety Act) come into force, which include the requirement for safety case reports to be completed. As we look at the key changes, it is timely to recall that when a panellist at the 2023 Association of…
In 2010, Congress included a provision in the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) requiring that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) promulgate rules effectuating what is commonly referred to as “Open Banking.” Specifically, the rules would require any entity that engages in offering or providing a consumer financial…
What is on the horizon for 2024? 2023 was a year of change and challenge. The continuing cost-of-living crisis, yet another government reshuffle, high interest rates and tax burden, the rise of Artificial Intelligence, investment in renewable energy, and the resurfacing of enduring global conflicts – to name just a few!…
The consensus is clear: there will be no energy transition without strategic metals. Batteries, wind turbines and solar cells require large amounts of lithium, nickel, rare earths and other exotic elements. More broadly, strategic sectors like aerospace and defence are also dependent on critical resources whose suppliers have de facto…
If you’ve browsed the Internet recently, you’ve probably noticed a significant uptick in the number of video advertisements popping up. Your eyes are not deceiving you. In the past five years, the online video ad industry has grown from $24 billion to $74 billion in size, and now video ads…
