News and insights

Stay up to date with the latest insights and perspectives from the Finance Unlocked team, and our community of experts

Where is your concentration risk hiding?

Why businesses outside financial services also need to consider their concentration risk

19th April 2024 • Hans-Kristian Bryn

2024 Battery Recycling Boom: A $USD 95B shift to green energy

Battery recycling is crucial for meeting the growing demand for critical minerals, potentially offsetting the need for new mineral mines by 2040

10th April 2024 • Rahul Bhushan

Uncontrollables - coping with 'dis-order'

Geopolitical risk is now regularly on the Board agenda, joining climate, environmental, health, cyber and technological change, not least disruption by AI.

2nd April 2024 • Hans-Kristian Bryn

Understanding the layers of the atmosphere: A comprehensive guide

The Earth's atmosphere is a remarkable blanket of gases that envelops our planet, providing us with the air we breathe and regulating our climate.

25th March 2024 • Prasad Gollakota

From scarcity to abundance: The quest for sustainable water in agriculture

Achieving sustainable water use in agriculture requires systemic changes, including effective policies, governance, education, and community engagement

19th March 2024 • Rahul Bhushan

Navigating the murky waters of green claims in the UK

What the FCA’s new anti-greenwashing guidance means in practice

27th February 2024 • Prasad Gollakota

Sustainable funding with contingent returns to investors

The World Bank’s plastic waste-reduction bond is not quite what it appears to be

16th February 2024 • Keith Mullin

Oil firms forced to consider full climate effects of new drilling, following landmark Norwegian court ruling

By: Daria Shapovalova, Senior Lecturer in Energy Law, University of Aberdeen

8th February 2024 • Daria Shapovalova

Decoupling vs. Degrowth: Navigating sustainable futures

Decoupling suggests achieving economic growth without harming the environment, challenging the traditional notion that growth always damages the environment.

2nd February 2024 • Rahul Bhushan

Davos 2024: What is it and why is it important?

Every year, government leaders and the business elite gather in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting

17th January 2024 • Prasad Gollakota

Introducing cultural capital add-ons for banks? Bring it on

Supervisors need to build a formal toolkit to address non-quantitative issues like culture and business models

5th January 2024 • Keith Mullin

Your Quick Guide To The Outcomes Of COP28

The world’s biggest climate meeting, the 28th conference of the parties (COP28), just concluded in Dubai.

17th December 2023 • David Carlin

Year end risk reflections: How bad is bad?

From economic risks to geopolitical risks, close attention to risk management will be key for companies to manage both volatility and uncertainty in 2024.

13th December 2023 • Hans-Kristian Bryn

COP28: Food for thought

As the world’s food and agriculture systems face numerous threats and challenges, leaders at COP28 declare a transformation is needed

7th December 2023 • Prasad Gollakota

COP28: A visual guide

This year's COP28 summit represents the climax of the Paris Agreement's first Global Stocktake on climate action. A course correction is necessary and desirable, but is it achievable?

29th November 2023 • John Lang

COP28: What will be the 5 key issues and possible outcomes?

From climate finance to the Global Stocktake - find out what the most pressing topics of this year's COP28 will be.

24th November 2023 • Prof David Griggs

COP: What is it and why is it important?

One of the most important events in the sustainability sector is the annual Conference of the Parties (COP).

23rd November 2023 • Prasad Gollakota

How Rising Water Vapour in the Atmosphere is Amplifying Warming

The long-predicted water vapour feedback within the climate system is making extreme weather worse, says Kevin Trenberth, Distinguished Scholar, NCAR; Affiliate Faculty, University of Auckland.

9th November 2023 • Kevin Trenberth

Navigating the Future: The Power of Climate Scenarios

“Climate Scenarios aren’t forecasts, but data-driven narratives that help companies think through different possible futures.” - Mark Carney*

31st October 2023 • Arun Kelshiker

Bank of America: In Defence of Structural Hedging

Bank of America (BOA) has recently been subject to a fair degree of criticism because it now appears to be earning less on its deposits than some rival banks. The nub of the argument is that BOA, particularly during the pandemic, continued to invest its deposits at relatively long tenors (up to 10 years) thus locking in – on average – a return of only about 2.4% on something like a quarter of its assets. In contrast, those competitors who more “wisely” invested at shorter tenors are now reaping the benefit of being able to re-invest their assets at closer to 5%. This is being described as an “opportunity missed” thus implying that BOA failed to manage its balance sheet prudently.

23rd October 2023 • Paul Newson

Credit Suisse AT1 Securities: The Uproar of Intended Consequences

The uproar around the breach of the so-called creditor hierarchy has been fascinating to watch since the announcement of the write-down of Credit Suisse Group’s (CSG’s) AT1 securities. As have discussions around potential class action litigation. It’s not new for investors to cry over spilled milk. In this instance, however, they had plenty of warnings. This topic is close to my heart, principally, as I was involved in the early development of the market in those securities and recall the conceptual discussions with regulators and policymakers, bank issuers, industry bodies, and investors. I am also keen to ensure past mistakes don’t repeat themselves.

23rd March 2023 • Prasad Gollakota

SVB: A catastrophic failure demystified

The basic facts surrounding the collapse last week of Silicon Valley Bank seem clear. During 2021, the bank’s deposits increased by $89bn and the majority of this money was invested not in customer loans but in fixed-rate bonds, mainly mortgage-backed securities.

17th March 2023 • Paul Newson

Market Bubbles Introduction

People never change. Over optimism, wishful thinking, the ability to suspend reality, and herd mentality are human traits that are part of what makes us who we are and won’t just disappear. As a result, the next market bubble is never far away.

21st March 2021 • Peter Eisenhardt

Now You See Me

Central Banks could issue Digital Currencies with a time limit. Let’s call them Time Limited Central Bank Digital Currencies (“TL-CBDCs”). Just like those banknotes falling from the helicopter, TL-CBDCs would be backed by the national central bank, and accepted as payment everywhere.

4th January 2021 • Robert Ellison

A Day in the life of … A Credit Research Analyst

At its essence, a research analyst’s job is to cut through the volatility, rather than be swept along with the tide, and critically examine the underlying fundamentals of a given enterprise, economy or asset class.

4th January 2021 • January Carmalt