Corporations

The straddle a tool in volatile markets

Speculating on the rise – and fall – of security prices

Put and call options are quite well known among a large crowd. The ‘straddle’ however, is less familiar to the general public. It became famous after its (mis)use by Nick Leeson, which caused the bankruptcy of Barings Bank in 1995. In… read more

The illusion

of control

The cult 1970s writer Douglas Adams managed to reduce the meaning of ‘Life, the Universe and Everything’ to the banality of a two-digit number (42, in case you’re wondering), leaving the characters in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy baffled to… read more

The Franc Zone

and its bigger, younger brother

The turbulent past of the Franc Zone’s members and the economic differences between them have not succeeded in breaking up the Franc Zone, a group of 14 central and west African countries using the two CFA franc currencies linked to the… read more

Housing Corporations: Sustainability in danger?

Back to core competences

In future, housing corporations will no longer have the opportunity to develop corporate real estate, which means they will be forced to cooperate with developers and investors. It remains to be seen whether this is a positive development.

Read more