Expert view points

Matching Africa’s natural and human capital with financial capital is vital for its sustainable development. Societe Generale is deploying the know-how and experience of its teams to design innovative financings for the continent’s emerging entrepreneurs and impactful projects.

Two decades after ESG (environmental, social and governance) emerged out of a United Nations report (“Who Cares Wins”, 2004) and went mainstream, the concept is under attack as never before -- both as an investment philosophy and a business practice.

Despite the deepening troubles in China’s property sector, a financial crisis that could spill over into global markets looks unlikely.

Article published by Environmental Finance on November 6, 2023. Innovation and investment are needed to deliver more food production yet cut the industry's greenhouse gas emissions, argue Vincent Nobilet and Frédéric Dubois

Having launched almost six years ago, the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) is starting to hit its stride with an increased transaction limit helping to encourage usage. For corporates operating in the SEPA zone, the scheme is not without flaws, but initiatives from regulators and banks point to a more functional and secure future.

Australia’s rollout of smart metering solutions is a template for upgrades to energy networks in Asia Pacific

As Societe Generale celebrates 50 years in Japan, we look ahead at how the energy transition will shape the country’s economic prosperity over the coming decades.

A tool to transform your business or a technology that threatens to disrupt it?

China’s currency is attracting renewed attention as global trading partners rethink their exposure to the US dollar. For companies where China is a key part of the value chain, it is already logical – and increasingly practical – to deal in renminbi.

As China cools, India’s markets are rising up the agenda for global investors. Recent inflows could be just the start of things to come.

By Brendon Moran, Co-Head of UK Corporate Coverage & Senior Banker (Energy, Natural Resources & Utilities)

Against a backdrop of positive interest rates and expectations for rapid and instantaneous payments, control of treasury flows within banks has become a real additional challenge.

This stake and the resulting business partnership will support innovation and help scale up circular economy projects and solutions in the Netherlands.

The submission to the French government on June, 29 2023 of the Paris Europlace report entitled “Accelerating the digitisation of international trade finance” (1) shows, if proof were still needed, the extent to which the subject of data and trade finance is at once a problem, an ambition and a revolution.

Just delayed or cancelled outright? The recession forecast by so many for 2023 has stubbornly failed to arrive, begging the question of whether the world’s central banks are managing to engineer a soft landing, or whether the global economy will still contract, only later than forecast?

‘Open Banking’ began a few years ago now, and collaboration between banks and the new financial players is starting to bear fruit. This approach is all the more fitting in the current economic and regulatory environment, in the face of changing client needs.

Virtual accounts are not merely a solution to replace existing bank accounts; they offer far more than that. By deploying virtual accounts, treasurers can open up a world of cash management efficiencies, drive a multitude of cost savings, and take control of cash organisation wide. Rail technology firm Wabtec has done just that.