In July 2025, Standard Chartered became the first major bank to enable spot trading of cryptocurrencies. Winters and De Giorgi say they are taking necessary steps at a moment of transformation for global finance. When I look at the way our financial markets business has evolved in response to shifting client needs, there's a constant need to innovate, the constant need to innovate in terms of payment systems.And there's the big one that that's being. It's getting a lot of airtime now, which is, you know, ar ...

At a time when trade wars and geopolitical volatility often dominate the headlines, Standard Chartered Leadership rejects the premise that globalization is in decline. I don't buy the narrative of globalization. I think that globalization is alive and well.It's just that it's different. It's it's not diminished. It moves in different ways.It's getting more complicated for people to connect. Yes, the desire to connect is greater than ever. And in fact, the desire to create new connections is greater than eve ...

AI & Tech Industry Analysis - Shorting Nvidia or other big tech names is considered risky in the current market [2] - Focus should be on shorting AI "pretenders" rather than the leaders in the AI space [2][3] - An oversupply of speculative assets will eventually crush demand for those assets, potentially impacting leading AI companies [4][5] - Large language models (LLMs) are useful for parsing information and creating summaries, but haven't yet helped with pattern recognition [8][11] - There's uncertainty about how much capital expenditure (CapEx) for AI data centers is allocated to LLMs versus other forms of AI [9][10] - LLMs are expected to significantly impact the legal industry by automating document review and synthesis [13][14] Market Dynamics & Investment Strategies - Passive investing has diminished price discovery in the markets [15] - The "Inelastic Market Hypothesis" suggests that demand for stocks is not sensitive to price increases [16][17] - Every net dollar flowing into the US market increases aggregate market cap by $5 [17] - Passive investment strategies are becoming the market, leading to dispersion in indices where a small number of companies drive overall performance [18][19] - Junior mining, particularly in companies like Snow Line, presents an edge due to under-allocation of talent and limited investor understanding [21][22]

NVIDIA and Big Tech - NVIDIA earnings were expected to be strong due to being a major beneficiary of the current massive CapEx bubble [1][2] - The temporary pullback in stocks is not the bursting of the bubble; the air bubble is expected to inflate significantly further into 2026 [2] - Short-term pressure on retail favorites and momentum stocks, potentially driven by the crypto sector, may not be fully exhausted [3] - NVIDIA earnings may not have fundamentally changed the short-term pressure on frothier stocks [3] Macroeconomic Factors and Fed Policy - There is increasing suspicion that a December Fed rate cut may not occur [5] - The potential lack of a Fed rate cut in December could weigh on asset prices in the short term [5][8] - A Fed policy that is too easy for the economic fundamentals helps asset prices, but the bubble is its own dominant theme [9] - The US economy is not currently seen as careening off a cliff edge, suggesting a preemptive rate cut is not necessary [7] Investment Strategy - It is not completely convinced that now is the time to buy the dip [4] - The bubble is in the inflation stage of incredible CapEx spending, which benefits some of the big names [10]

Property Market Overview - China's property woes are entering their fifth year, impacting deflation and consumption due to deteriorated household wealth [1] - Previous easing measures in tier one cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen have failed to rekindle interest in the property sector [2][3] - Bloomberg Intelligence estimates hundreds of billions of yuan in negative equity, a trend expected to accelerate into 2026 [5] Policy Response - Authorities are considering new measures, including mortgage subsidies for new homebuyers, income tax rebates for mortgage borrowers, and lowered home transaction costs [2] - More forceful policy support is being called for, with authorities examining different plans [3] - Timing and specifics of these proposals remain unknown, but discussions have been ongoing since the third quarter [4] Financial System Risks - Negative equity is expected to intensify, weighing on buyer confidence and contributing to further home sales decline [6] - Destabilization of the financial system is a paramount concern for authorities as they head into 2026 [7] - A rise in nonperforming loans and households sitting on negative equity due to significant household wealth tied to property (upwards of 60%) will significantly impact the financial system's balance sheets and loan portfolios [9] Upcoming Events - Top policymakers have held closed-door meetings to develop the next five-year plan, likely to be revealed at the National People's Congress (NPC) in March [7] - There is urgency for policies to be released before the NPC meets in early March [8]

Invidious forecast for China market is zero. We're going to continue to engage the U.S. government, continue to engage the China government to advise them and to encourage them to allow us to go back and compete in the open market. And so until then, we should assume zero.And Bloomberg has learned that White House officials are urging members of Congress to oppose a measure that would limit his ability to sell chips to China. A tech correspondent, Animal Jewelers, has more on the scope and bills. That's a p ...

There are many elements of a CFO's job that are the same across every industry: planning, budgeting, risk management, reporting. But Diego De Giorgi believes the role of a CFO at a bank is unique. I think it's very different.In a nutshell, if you are the CFO of an industrial business, you make chemicals, widgets or something. You are the company's resident expert on matters financial. But a bank does finance.And a bank is really a living organism where the CFO plays a very meaningful role in the deployment ...

Tell us in terms of what the target is going to be with this new regime and what sort of companies you're looking to attract. Well, we have our best IPO market in the last quarter rank within our top ten globally. But companies have been telling us that if there's an additional pathway to connect US to Asia and allowing better access into global capital, they would like to look at it.And I think that many tech growth companies in this part of the world, they are ready for the IPO market. And we know what it ...

Product & Supply Chain - Blackwell sales are off the charts, and GPUs in the cloud are sold out, but the company has plenty of Blackwells to sell with a well-planned supply chain [1][2][3] - Vera Rubin silicon chips are back in the labs, with bring-up on track for Q3 of next year, continuing the company's annual cycle [5][6] - The rack scale architecture, including Envy Link 72, is revolutionary and will transition smoothly from Grace Blackwell to Vera Rubin, leveraging existing supply chains [6][7][8] China Market - The company's forecast for the China market is zero, despite it being a potentially $50 billion market [10][12] - The company aims to re-engage with the Chinese market with competitive products, pending government approvals [11][13] Compliance & Diversion - The company is permitted to export up to 35,000 Blackwell chips each to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with measures in place to prevent technology diversion to China [14] - The company has been rigorous in preventing diversion, testing data centers and implementing technological and process controls [15][16] Energy & Infrastructure - The company's growth rate makes everything a challenge, requiring world-class supply chain management and collaboration with energy providers [16][17] - The company's large network of partners, including cloud service providers and OEMs, helps in finding power solutions globally [18] AI & Market Demand - The company's architecture runs virtually every model, including premier frontier models like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini [19] - The company is disciplined in aligning with partners like OpenAI and Anthropic, considering demand visibility and financing capabilities before building out capacity [21][22] - There is exponential growth in compute demand for AI, with companies struggling to keep up with demand, highlighting the need for increased capacity and optimization [23][24][25]

How do you compare the thrill of being uh in the business world where you're either endorsing products, you're investing in products with playing tennis. >> There's no match point in business, right. There's no that like feeling of, okay, now I either I I this one point is on the line.I've gotten to this point and it's make or break. So much will change. Like there's none of that getting on your knees and waving to the crowd, you know.And yes, I I I miss those memories. I miss those moments. Um, but the adj ...