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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!

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.

Crypto Is Worth Fixing. Regulators Should Get Moving

"To maintain their credibility, and to derive the greatest benefit from blockchain technology, regulators should intervene and crack down on scams, protect investors, and ensure market integrity," Bloomberg Opinion columnist and BWC Board of Directors Chair William C. Dudley commented.

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).

Mark Evans

BWC would like to welcome new member Mark Evans, ANZ Country Head Singapore and Head of South East Asia, India & Middle East.

Mark was appointed Country Head, Singapore in May 2022 with additional responsibility for South East Asia economies, including Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines and UAE. As Country Head, Singapore, Mark is responsible for the overall business of ANZ Singapore across the Institutional, Corporate and Markets segments, and for driving connectivity between Singapore, ANZ's home markets of Australia and New Zealand and our international network.

Columbia University President Appointment

BWC Advisory Council member Minouche Shafik will become the 20th president of Columbia University on July 1, 2023.

Africa Sovereign Debt Spiral Foments Frustration

This past year, a decade-long Africa commercial borrowing binge with $30bn worth of bonds outstanding came to a screeching halt amid outright or near defaults, with distressed spreads as a measure of risk of over 1,000 basis points to US Treasuries for the sovereign benchmark index cross-section.

Debt topped the agenda at the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC in December.

The Complication of Concentration in Global Trade

BWC member and McKinsey Global Institute director and senior partner Olivia White recently published The Complication of Concentration in Global Trade, in which she and MGI explore findings in and implications for supply chain resilience and globalization.