Member Views

Africa Stock Markets Test Run Revival Formula

Most frontier African stock markets lagged in 2022, but a revival is likely on renewed privatization policies, cross-border integration, currency rationalization, and bank rotation from forced bond allocation into equities, writes BWC member Gary Kleiman.

Tunisia Migration Matches Debt Distress Call

BWC member Gary Kleiman writes that "Tunisia must... find a predictable political and economic equilibrium outside immediate sovereign debt default and repressive regime threats. An exit ramp could be a no credit staff monitored rather than full-fledged IMF connection."

Yemen economic spoils spat revs Red Sea rage

The Bretton Woods Committee is pleased to Member Spotlight an article by Gary Kleiman discussing the economic and humanitarian situation in Yemen against the backdrop of recent Red Sea shipping raids. It highlights the ongoing conflict between the Iran-aligned Houthis in the North and the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the South.

Element Capital

BWC's newest organizational member is Element Capital Management. Element is an alternative investment manager with a "modern macro" style of global macro investing. 

Maybank Singapore

BWC welcomes our new organizational member Maybank Singapore. Singapore is one of Maybank's largest overseas operations. It's staffed by over 2,000 employees. They offer retail, private wealth, and small and medium-sized enterprise banking services; and their Singapore branch operates the Global Banking business to cater to the banking needs of corporate and institutional clients.

Their engagement with the Committee will be led by Chandran Dharmarajan, Head of Brand and Communications. We appreciate their support for our mission, and we look forward to their engagement!

The Caribbean is More Integrated Than Ever, Caricom Notwithstanding

BWC member DeLisle Worrell writes "the one major change that would deepen Caribbean regional integration significantly would be the use of US dollars... in place of the national currency; no Caricom decision is needed... to reap that benefit."

Good and Bad Debt

"I believe the time is ripe for a re-evaluation of borrowing strategies by Caribbean governments," writes DeLisle Worrell, BWC member and former governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, in Good and Bad Debt, this month's issue of his newsletter.

Crown Agents Bank

BWC’s newest organizational member is Crown Agents Bank. Crown Agents connects emerging and frontier markets to the rest of the world, using FX and payments technology.

They transform the way payments and FX move through emerging markets, reducing friction so more money gets to those who need it. Their solutions help fix the pain points of usually challenging, expensive, unreliable, and opaque emerging markets payments. They connect hard-to-reach regions to global financial infrastructure, giving access to the best prices and the fastest, most reliable settlement.

United Overseas Bank

BWC welcomes new organizational member United Overseas Bank, the third largest bank in Southeast Asia. UOB provides commercial, corporate, and personal banking services; private banking and asset management services; and corporate finance, venture capital, investment, and insurance services.

They are headquartered in Singapore and operate throughout nineteen countries in Asia, Europe, and North America.

DeAnne Julius

Another new member at BWC: DeAnne Julius, Chatham House. DeAnne is a senior adviser to Chatham House and a distinguished fellow in its Global Economy and Finance programme.

She is a former member of the Temasek International Panel (Singapore) and the International Advisory Council of the China Investment Corporation (Beijing).