Laurie McAughtry

3 weeks ago | euromoney.com | Laurie McAughtry

With operations in more than 30 countries worldwide, a well-established franchise and a top-five ranking, Bank of America (BofA) is already in the top handful of bulge-bracket banks operating in the European equity capital markets (ECM) space.

1 month ago | euromoney.com | Laurie McAughtry

Private markets are undergoing a growth explosion. Industry estimates suggest the sector could jump from $13 trillion today to more than $20 trillion by 2030 – driven by democratised investor access, private debt expansion, and the transformative power of technology – particularly via AI and digital assets. In 2024, private equity dealmaking finally resumed its growth trajectory after two years of decline, with a notable increase in the value and number of large PE deals.

1 month ago | euromoney.com | Laurie McAughtry

In November, the European regulator ESMA published plans for the EU to move to a T+1 settlement cycle no later than October 11, 2027, with the UK agreeing to the same deadline earlier this year. The move to a shorter settlement is expected to release more than £1 billion of margin in the UK due to lower counterparty risks – echoing the benefits seen in the US, where the T+1 transition in May has already seen an estimated reduction in clearing default funding of around US$2 billion.

1 month ago | euromoney.com | Laurie McAughtry

A top-20 global exchange, the most active platform in South Africa and largest on the African continent, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has nevertheless spent much of the past decade in the doldrums, with sluggish volumes, negative weightings and lacklustre listings. During the past two years, however, all that has changed, with promising growth numbers driven by an uptick macro performance and a sea change in political will.

1 month ago | euromoney.com | Laurie McAughtry

US capital markets remain the largest in the world, with US equity markets representing 42.6% of global market capitalisation, almost four times the size of the EU, the next largest market. America is also the world’s financial hub, offering the greatest diversity of banks, brokers, financial advisors and investment managers. For those reasons, more and more companies are exploring how they can make their shares available to the broadest pool of US investors.