Financial markets around the world can affect each other in a matter of seconds as financial information systems are programmed to buy or sell stocks and financial derivatives automatically when activated by sudden changes in global market trends and conditions. Information Systems for Global Financial Markets: Emerging Developments and Effects offers focused research on the systems and technologies that provide intelligence and expertise to traders and investors and facilitate the agile ordering processes, networking, and regulation of global financial electronic markets. How these systems work to manipulate, move, and provide intelligence to the stock market is still a mystery to many students, and it is the intent of this book to provide real-world cases and examples that can unveil these systems to business students interested in financial trading, the dynamics of financial electronic markets, and the tactical technologies that facilitate the trading process and trading decisions.

Go inside the trend that spawned a multi-billion dollar industry for the top five percent Sweat Equity goes inside the multibillion dollar trend toward endurance sports and fitness to discover who's driving it, who's paying for it, and who's profiting. Bloomberg's Jason Kelly, author of The New Tycoons, profiles the participants, entrepreneurs, and investors at the center of this movement, exploring this phenomenon in which a surge of people led by the most affluent are becoming increasingly obsessed with looking and feeling better. Through in-depth looks inside companies and events from New York Road Runners to Tough Mudder and Ironman, Kelly profiles the companies and people aiming to meet the demands of these consumers, and the traits and strategies that made them so successful. In a modern world filled with anxiety, pressure, and competition, people are spending more time and money than ever before to soothe their minds and tone their bodies, sometimes pushing themselves to the most extreme limits. Even as obesity rates hit an all-time high, the most financially successful among us are collectively spending billions each year on apparel, gear, and entry fees. Sweat Equity charts the rise of the movement, through the eyes of competitors and the companies that serve them. Through conversations with businesspeople, many driven by their own fitness obsessions, and first-hand accounts of the sports themselves, Kelly delves into how the movement is taking shape. * Understand the social science, physics, and economics of our desire to pursue activities like endurance sports and yoga * Get to know the endurance business's target demographics * Learn how distance running once a fringe hobby became a multibillion dollar enterprise fueled by private equity * Understand how different generations pursue fitness and how fast-growing companies sell to them The opportunity to run, swim, and crawl in the mud is resonating with more and more of us, as sports once considered extreme become mainstream. As Baby Boomers seek to stay fit and Millennials search for meaning in a hyperconnected world, the demand for the race bib is outstripping supply, even as the cost to participate escalates. Sweat Equity, through the stories of men and women inside the most influential races and companies, goes to the heart of the movement where mind, body, and big money collide.

The role of foreign direct investment initiatives is pivotal to effective enterprise development. This is particularly vital to emerging economies that are building their presence in international business markets. Outward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Emerging Market Economies is a comprehensive source of academic material on the progressive impact of investment opportunities in the context of developing nations. Highlighting pivotal research perspectives on topics such as trade, sourcing strategies, and corporate social responsibility, this book is ideally designed for academics, practitioners, graduate students, and professionals interested in the economic performance of emerging markets.

The use of ICT applications has dipped into almost every aspect of the business sector, including trade. With the volume of e-commerce increasing, international traders must switch their rules and practices to e-trade to survive in such a competitive market. However, the complexity of international trade, which covers customs processes, different legislation, specific documentation requirements, different languages, different currencies, and different payment systems and risk, presents its own challenges in this transition. Tools and Techniques for Implementing International E-Trading Tactics for Competitive Advantage examines the multidisciplinary approach of international e-trade as it applies to information technology, digital marketing, digital communication, online reputation management, and different legislation and risks. The content within this publication examines digital advertising, consumer behavior, and e-commerce and is designed for international traders, entrepreneurs, business professionals, researchers, academicians, and students.

This book analyses and discusses bonds and bond portfolios. Different yields and duration measures are investigated for negative and positive interest rates. The transition from a single bond to a bond portfolio leads to the equation for the internal rate of return. Its solution is analysed and compared to different approaches proposed in the financial industry. The impact of different yield scenarios on a model bond portfolio is illustrated. Market and credit risk are introduced as independent sources of risk. Different concepts for assessing credit markets are described. Lastly, an overview of the benchmark industry is offered and an introduction to convertible bonds is given. This second edition also includes a chapter on multi-currency portfolios as well as a discussion on currency hedging. This book is a valuable resource not only for students and researchers but also for professionals in the financial industry.

This is Bernie Keating's sixth book after finishing other careers spanning 60 years: Naval officer - Korean WarTeaching Assistant, U.C., BerkeleyMulti-national company executive Management consultantRancher in Sierra Mountains

The book is a dialogue between a money manager and a young man who asks whether or not he should invest. Their conversation explores How for money and not-for-money investment differ; How accounting and economic assets compare with social and natural assets; How time is central to all of investment, building capabilities in the present which can deliver resources in the future; How banks collectively create and destroy money; How the yield curve shows the market interest rates for financial assets of different durations; How competitive advantage is important in determining the returns achieved on real assets; How fundamental value differs from price, or what someone is prepared to pay; How fundamental analysis and technical analysis of price data provide insights into risk; How mean-variance analysis of price data is the conventional approach to risk; How the economic ecosystem creates prices How capitalism may be a lousy system and yet the best available as it adapts continuously to align money prices and human values. The book is for people who want to know how investment works and how they can invest their savings. I think of it as an amalgam of an everyman's guide to business and economics, an introduction to investment, and an apology for 'capitalism'. Ben Paton

In response to the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, central banks have used all available instruments in their monetary policy tool-kit to avoid financial market disruptions and a collapse in real economic activities. These actions have expanded the size of their balance sheets and altered the composition of the asset-side. This edited book highlights how these assets are managed, providing an intellectual and practical contribution to an under-researched field of central bank responsibilities. It first reviews the sources and uses of domestic and international assets and how they complement-or possibly conflict with-the implementation of monetary policy goals. Next, the book examines the asset management mandate in a balance sheet context before turning to the investment decision-making process from strategic and tactical asset allocation to investment strategies, risk management, governance, reporting and control. Finally, it presents new developments in the field of managing assets at central banks. The individual chapters are written by central bankers, academics, and representatives from International Financial Institutions, each representing a particular aspect of the asset management practice. Practical and powerful insights from a hall of fame of investors, central bankers and scholars, are packed into this one volume. If you could have only one book on central bank asset management, this would be it. -Peter R. Fisher, Clinical Professor, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Jacob Bjorheim draws on his long experience in sovereign asset management to pull together a rich collection of insights from a broad range of expertise. Asset management at central banks has evolved and expanded considerably over the past decade. This book is a timely source of information and guidance. -Guy Debelle, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia Central bank balance sheets have grown at a tremendous pace over the last decade and a half. Drawing on contributions from scholars and experienced central bankers from around the world, this timely and insightful book sheds light on how central banks are, and should be, managing their growing balance sheets. -Kjell G. Nyborg, Chaired Professor of Finance, University of Zurich, Author of Collateral Frameworks: The Open Secret of Central Banks Central banks and monetary authorities are charged with, and being held accountable for, managing portfolios of foreign currency assets of unprecedented size. The essays in this admirable book, written by some of the worlds most highly experienced officials, cover the full range of why and how this is currently being done and how new developments are affecting old practices. Interesting conceptually and immensely useful practically. -William White, Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute, former Head of the Monetary and Economic Department with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee at the OECD An excellent and timely review of modern international reserve management, which ought to be read by everyone working with, or simply interested in, international asset management and finance as well as monetary and economic policy. The spectrum of authors is broad and their combined insight is very valuable. -Tom A. Fearnley, Investment Director, Norwegian Ministry of Finance With "Asset Management at Central Banks and Monetary Authorities", Jacob Bjorheim has achieved an editorial tour de force. The book assembles the insightful views of the leading experts in the field, both from an academic and practitioners' perspective. It bridges the gap between the macroeconomics of central banks and the financial management of their reserves. A must read to understand how central banks are special in the group of institutional investors. -Eric Bouye, Head of Asset Allocation and Quantitative Strategies, Treasury Department, The World Bank The balance sheet is a large and important toolbox for any central bank and specifically the foreign exchange reserves constitute one the more powerful of these tools. This book provides excellent insight in the various perspectives of managing reserves at a central bank. -Heidi Elmer, Director of Markets Department, Severiges Riksbank The world of international reserves has changed since the global financial crisis. In this volume, Jacob Bjorheim has assembled a stellar cast of experts to explain how and what that means for reserves management. With chapter authors like Andrew Ang, Jennifer Johnson-Calari, Robert McCauley, Ravi Menon, Simon Potter and Philip Turner, it is a book that every reserve manager must read. -Eli Remolona, Professor of Finance and Director of Central Banking, Asia School of Business in collaboration with MIT Sloan Jacob Bjorheim has succeeded in bringing together a first-class team of experts, and organising their contributions in an articulated journey from the central banks' policy mandate to their asset management practices. An indispensable post-crisis update of the subject and a a required reading for anyone professionally involved with central bank's asset management, or simply curious about a topic benefitting otherwise from limited research. -Louis de Montpellier, Former Global Head, Official Institutions Group, SSGA, and former Deputy Head, Banking Department, Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Basel At last, a book that shares with a wider audience, deep insight in a unique, challenging and ethical approach of asset management developed and implemented in the secretive world of central banks. If you wonder how to manage funds that stand ready for use at short notice in times of stress then this book is for you. Two features make it such a valuable read and a must-have reference: First, the very comprehensive list of themes covered from a rich diversity of angles. Second, the very impressive list of prominent institutions and authors that have contributed and shared their analysis and practical approaches of the issues presented. What is better than to get the information directly from first-hand practitioners, experts and managers themselves in their own words? -Jean-Pierre Matt, Former Head of Financial Analysis at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and founder of Quanteis This book holds the promise to become the go-to guide for anyone wishing to learn more about the management of official foreign exchange reserves. Central bankers in particular, but also those providing services to central banks, will find benefit from the broad scope in subject matter and varied perspectives being presented. I am yet to see a compendium on official reserve management with similar reach in subject matter. -Leon Myburgh, Former Head Financial Markets Department, South African Reserve Bank (SARB), Pretoria This is an immensely timely book at a time when central bank operations, and their balance sheets, remain "larger for longer". Following the Financial Crisis 10 years ago, and with the Covid-19 Recession about to break, central bank balance sheets are at the forefront of the authorities' response to economic issues as never before. Yet the management of their now large-scale assets remains a little known and little studied area. The authors of this book combine extensive technical and practical experience, and their observations will fill an important gap in the literature at a critical time. -Freyr Hermannsson, Former Head of Treasury, Central Bank of Iceland, Reykjavik

Radical developments in financial management, spurred by improvements in computer technology, have created demand for people who can use modern financial techniques combined with computer skills such as C++. Dr. Brooks gives readers the ability to express derivative solutions in an attractive, user-friendly format, and the ability to develop a permanent software package containing them. His book explains in detail how to write C++ source code and at the same time explains derivative valuation problems and methods. Entry level as well as experienced financial professionals have already found that the ability to understand and write C++ code has greatly enhanced their careers. This is an important hands-on training resource for practitioners and a clearly presented textbook for graduate-level students in business and finance.

Dr. Brooks combines object-oriented C++ programming with modern derivatives technology and provides numerous examples to illustrate complex derivative applications. He covers C++ within the text and the Borland C++Builder program, on which the book is based, in extensive appendices. His book combines basic C++ coding with fundamental finance problems, illustrates traditional techniques for solving more complicated problems, and develops the reader's ability to express complex mathematical solutions in the object-oriented framework of C++. It also reviews derivative solutions techniques and illustrates them with C++ code, reviews general approaches to valuing interest rate contingent claims, and focuses on practical ways to implement them. The result is a book that trains readers simultaneously in the substance of its field, financial derivatives, and the programming of solutions to problems in it.

Bowditch refuses to see African nations as basketcases on a continent of despair; instead, he examines Ghana as a country of potential opportunity in an economically emerging continent. He explores a new generation of issues around the connection between cultural values and behavior to provide international investors, Ghanaians, and others with a better understanding of the Ghanaian--and African--business environment.

Drawing upon some seven years of living and working in Ghana, Bowditch provides several different contemporary vantage points on sub-Saharan Africa's first independent nation. First examining the core cultural values of the Ghanaian people, he then looks at Ghanaian business practices. The result is an indepth look at how Ghanaians approach life, business, religion, and family, how that directly impacts the way they manage their institutions, and how that differs from prevailing international business behavior. Bowditch then probes these cultural differences and the frequently overlooked racial preconceptions that impede relations and collaboration between Ghanaians, other Africans, and Westerners. Through his unusually intimate exploration of Ghanaian life, values, business thinking, and management culture, Bowditch brings the reader full circle, answering the question: can Africa become an economic lion?

Using a range of case-studies, this book analyzes corporate governance relationships between several African countries and the international community, providing an ethical assessment of issues surrounding globalization and adherence to external governance mechanisms. Employing a methodological approach, Corporate Governance in Africa critiques occidental perspectives of corporate governance in relation to the needs of separate states, and the contradictions that arise when local cultures are not taken in to consideration. With case studies from Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and The Gambia the book presents a comprehensive view of North, East, West and South Africa with contributions from global experts in the field. The authors critique the transformations deemed necessary for governance procedures in order to facilitate confidence and inward investment for these African states.

This book is split into four distinct sections to provide a complete account of investment performance measurement. The first section examines the development of the concept of performance measurement with the evolution of benchmarks and the increasing sophistication of performance analysis. The practical implications of performance measurement are tackled in the second section, with particular emphasis on the calculations that can be used to derive a rate of return for a fund and risk is also examined in detail. The third section covers the performance measurement of pension funds over the last 25 years and the lessons that can be learned about the investment performance and measurement process. The final section considers the future prospects for performance measurement and proposes potential future directions for the measurement of investment performance.

This book explores the integrity of equity markets, addressing such issues as the exchange vs. customer perspective on price discovery and the ways market participants deal with key regulatory concerns. Do market practitioners pass the integrity test? How does "market integrity" play out globally? What is the overall veracity of the marketplace? These are some of the key questions considered in this volume from the viewpoints of traders, economists, financial market strategists and exchange representative. Titled after the Baruch College Financial Markets Conference, Market Integrity: Do Our Equity Markets Pass the Test?, this book is of interest to market practitioners, trading professionals, academics and students in the field of financial markets. The Zicklin School of Business Financial Markets Series presents the insights emerging from a sequence of conferences hosted by the Zicklin School at Baruch College for industry professionals, regulators and scholars. Much more than historical documents, the transcripts from the conferences are edited for clarity, perspective and context; material and comments from subsequent interviews with the panelists and speakers are integrated for a complete thematic presentation. Each book is focused on a well-delineated topic, but all deliver broader insights into the quality and efficiency of the U.S. equity markets and the dynamic forces changing them.

The book provides a study of the investment environment for international enterprises in China and overseas investment by Chinese enterprises. Applying statistical methods and up-to-date data analysis, it examines every aspect of the investment environment in China. The author's ideas are further illustrated with 39 figures and diagrams. Its 18 chapters discuss topics ranging from history, the current situation and problems of foreign investment in China, to China's policies for attracting foreign investment, the top 500 global companies in China, urban competitive analysis and multinational corporations in Beijing. It also analyzes Chinese investment in foreign countries. It is a valuable investment guide, and is also a useful reference resource for academic research and teaching related to international business and the Chinese economy.

Alec Hogg is one of South Africa's leading financial journalists, and the founder of Moneyweb and Biznews.

Here he helps us to learn how the investment genius of Warren Buffett can be applied to South African investing. This book is packed with invaluable lessons and insights from the world's greatest wealth creator. Useful charts and graphics are included in the book to provide more details about concepts and shares.

Packed inside the book you'll find:

• What $10'000 invested in Berkshire in 1965 looks like today
• Buffett's Top 4 Companies
• Stock charts of important South African companies