Five EU Nations Are Starting to Work Together

The Panama Papers have proven to be a significant source of controversy in the European union. Given the relatively worrisome state of the EU economy, it should come as no surprise that members of the general public are outraged when information regarding tax havens, currency exchange, and secret accounts amongst members of the political class is leaked. In response to this anger, representatives from the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain have recently announced that they will be launching a collaborative effort to crack down on the growth of secretive financial dealings amongst affluent business leaders and politicians. This five-nation coalition has initiated a new data sharing initiative which, it is hoped, will ensure that business owners are held accountable for the appropriate amount of taxes they should be required to pay by law.

The implications of this collaboration are quite significant. Most importantly, it sets a new precedent by which these five nations are hoping to encourage the remaining members of the G20 to adopt similar disclosure methods. As a point of reference, it is important to note that G20 members such as the United States, Saudi Arabia and China do not currently allow for the disclosure of citizens’s tax information. This has made accountability a particularly elusive measure, and has helped to stoke tensions between nations seeking to increase their tax revenue by cracking down on corruption and illicit dealings.

In a statement regarding the induction of these new policies, British Chancellor George Osborne proclaimed, “Today we deal another hammer blow against those who hide their illegal tax evasion in the dark corners of the financial system…Britain will work with our major European partners to find out who really owns the secretive shell companies and trusts that have been used as conduits for evading tax, laundering money and benefitting from corruption.”

Although the UK and its four partner nations are, obviously, taking these measures quite seriously, many experts remain skeptical that these measures will produce long-lasting, substantial reform in either tax or currency exchange issues. International coalitions operate at peak efficiency when a large number of partner nations agree to collaborate. At the moment, the reach of these new policies remains quite narrow. With that in mind, tax evasion will likely continue to remain a serious problems for the foreseeable future. It is the hope of Osborne and others, however, that these new policies will provide a symbolic and tangible victory for government regulators.

Euros to Pounds plummeting, is it worth converting cash now?

The possibility of Brexit, no matter how dim or vague, has, for all intents and purposes, created concrete and dramatic fluctuations in the UK economy to date. Although the likelihood of the Brexit movement succeeding has become less plausible in recent months, the turmoil created by this vote has sent shockwaves through the global currency markets, particularly with respect to the British Pound’s relationship to the Euro dollar.

According to recent data culled from the fx markets, the Pound is performing quite poorly against the Euro. With this in mind, a growing number of British residents are flocking to currency exchange centers in order to exchange their Pounds for Euro Dollars prior to summer vacations and other holiday outings in order to ensure that they can maintain their purchasing power in the event of further declines in their domestic currency. According to statistics released by the Post Office, the central source of currency exchange in the UK, there has been a 43% increase in the sale of Euros at this time compared to this point last year. The continued fear of economic and political turmoil has sent Pound / Euro exchange to nearly double their normal frequency at multiple points in the past few months.

Unfortunately, these fears are not without their real-world manifestations. Recently, the Pound fell to a record low against the US dollar, dipping to exchange rates which had not been seen since the height of the global financial crisis in 2009. Additionally, the Pound appears to have fallen up to 9% against the Euro Dollar, leading some experts to believe that a more staggering collapse of the Pound could be imminent as the Brexit vote nears. Adding fuel to the fire, HSBC has recently announced that their analysts have predicted that the value of the Pound may fall up to 20% more if the UK were, indeed, to leave the EU behind. Such pricing fluctuations would have staggering consequences in the UK, with import and export activities being severely disrupted.

In a prepared statement regarding the issue of GBP volatility, Justin Urquhart-Stewart, a representative of noted investing firm 7 Investment Management, stated, “Sterling is going to be as soggy as the British weather, and until the EU referendum is out of the way, the uncertainty is going to get worse.….You never know which way currency is going to go, but if you have a holiday booked I would get at least half of your currency now; maybe even more. I cannot see why the pound will get any stronger.”

There is, of course, no method by which the fine details of the fx markets can be accurately predicted for the upcoming months. Suffice to say, however, that there is a growing consensus that the Pound will, for better or worse, face turbulent waters for the rest of this year. Because of this, many financial advisors are recommending that those individuals seeking to enjoy a European or international holiday abroad this summer would do well to begin withdrawing the cash they plan on using during their travels now. According to David Black, the founder of noted financial analysis firm DJB Research, “If you know you are definitely going away this summer and you have the cash to spare, then it might be an idea to work out how much spending money you will need and get half now”.

More information regarding the fate of the Pound will likely reveal itself in the upcoming months. Until then, those individuals who do plan on using their finances for international activities are advised to keep a watchful eye on the fx rates as they fluctuate. Although a rally in the Pound has been predicted in the event of a “stay” vote during Brexit, it is far too early to determine whether or not this will, indeed, occur.

Hackers stolen £651 million from banks

For years, financial institutions around the world have relied upon the Swift payment system for international transactions with partner organisations, individuals, businesses etc. In a way, Swift has proven itself to be a highly efficient, ultra-reliable tool by which the world’s financial infrastructure can operate. Recently, however, a group of as yet unidentified hackers have proven that even a system as secure and heavily defended as Swift can be manipulated in order to help perpetrate cybercrime and digital theft.

According to official reports by global security experts, a team of hackers recently targeted the Bangladesh central bank as part of a massive cyber theft attack involving international money transfer. As a result of the attack, nearly 55 million pounds Sterling were diverted into the hands of these culprits. Although experts now know that the money was transferred to the Philippines, little information has been made available regarding who may have been behind this perfectly executed heist.

This crime has underscore the need for fresh thinking when it comes to designing and properly implementing theft deterrent measures within the Swift network. As it currently stands, there are nearly 11,000 banks and financial institutions which utilise the Swift payment network on a regular basis. In a recent response to the theft, representatives from Swift have stated that the company has known of “…a number of recent cyber incidents in which malicious insiders or external attackers have managed to submit Swift messages from financial institutions’ back offices”.

It is perhaps, reassuring to know that the means by which these criminals were able to manipulate the Swift system was through external means, i.e. the banking infrastructure itself as opposed to the Swift transfer mechanisms. In this heist, for example, Swift merely operated as a means by which the funds were transferred as opposed to the method by which hackers gained access to the funds.

Methods aside, however, this incident serves as a stark reminder that money transfer remains a potentially dangerous and risky tools for businesses and individuals alike. Although the Swift system may not have been directly involved in the heist, it remains the primary vehicle by which one of the world’s larger thefts was successfully completed. More information regarding this shocking crime will likely be made available in the near future. Investigators are actively searching for further information regarding this crime and the identification of possible suspects.

What Software as a Service Is and How It Can Help You

Software as a Service, also known as SaaS, is an application delivery system over the internet. E-mail was one of the first application offered in this manner. For business, the early innovations were things like recruitment, customer relations management, and expenses. SaaS has become a widely-used business model with more and more different kinds of applications available via the cloud.

The ability to get applications up and running very quickly is one of the attractions of SaaS. In-house IT projects can be quite complex and can take a lot of time to set up and implement. A major credit card company’s head of marketing was “like a kid in a candy store when told it would take only five weeks to get a cloud application running. IT had originally quoted 18 months”, according to the Harvard Business Review.

Using packaged or in-house software means that you have to shop around and evaluate, purchase, install, keep secure, maintain, and regularly upgrade. This places an added burden on your IT team, with the possibility of projects getting back-logged and not done on time. Integration of the various applications could be tricky and time consuming. SaaS comes as a relief.

SaaS keeps growing and more businesses are turning to this model for their applications. The growing use of mobiles in business has taken great advantage of Software as a Service. You no longer have to be in the office to be able to access your work. The increase in the standard internet connectivity speeds makes working remotely a lot easier these days. Files can be synced, as well, so when you return to the office you can continue on your computer as if you had never left.

The standardisation of digital technologies makes it easier to integrate and share cloud-based programs and services. These common protocols allow users to work on multiple devices, all the while having a better experience. More and more users are happy to work in this way thanks to the familiarity, usability and simplicity of web-like environments.

Having no software or hardware to purchase, install, maintain or update makes SaaS very attractive to many businesses. As a user, there’s little to do until you actually start using the software. Familiar web-based interfaces is a major draw to SaaS, building on the consumer web that users already know. Updates are often made regularly so there is no need to put IT resources into maintenance. The ability to work, in real time, either remotely or with others who are located elsewhere is a big draw for businesses towards SaaS.

As computing systems increase in sophistication and power, SaaS has kept pace, moving up from simple single applications and becoming a practical approach for large or enterprise-scale solutions. The benefits of SaaS are many. The service costs are scaled, depending on the size of your business and the number of applications you need and the number of people who will be working on them. If you have offices across the country or the globe, everyone in your company can access the same applications and the same data, at the same time.

The future of SaaS will see even more growth in the industry. The cloud approach can help companies develop end-to-end integrated solutions and allow them to concentrate on what they do best, leaving a wide range of hardware and software IT issues to service providers. Long-term relationships with SaaS will grow and the input from you, their customers, will help to make Software as a Service even better. Understanding customer’s needs and being able to deliver solutions is placing SaaS as the go-to service for many businesses.

Keeping an Eye on the Pound

The pound is still floating around, not performing well, ever since the triggering of Article 50. It may be a long time before stability is seen and investors feel comfortable investing more. Brexit is still playing heavily on the pound, as is politics around the world, and the uncertainty that these bring has kept the already low pound under pressure.

It seems the pressure on the pound comes from many directions and numerous other countries. Even North Korea, with its missile testing, is affecting how investors interact with the pound. Since the euro is in a stronger, more stable position than the pound, investments seem to be centred more on it than the riskier Sterling. The euro, though, is rallying through all of the uncertainty.

Britain’s construction sector is a good example of how investment slumps can do harm to a sector and the pound. Growth in the construction sector hit a one-year low this month. It was hurt by an investment slump in the commercial sector as Brexit uncertainty weighed in. Data from other dominant service sectors will be very important for attempting to predict where the pound will fall.

Prime Minister Theresa May failed to win a clear mandate at a snap election in June and only has a slim majority in parliament that rests on an agreement with a smaller party. She remains vulnerable if pro-European lawmakers in her Conservative party team up with other parties to vote down legislation or support amendments. Prime Minister Theresa May warned lawmakers over the weekend that Britain could be faced with a Brexit “cliff edge” if they failed to back her EU repeal bill, which is to be debated in parliament on Thursday.

It is being speculated that there is a likelihood of a general election as Brexit talks wrap up late next year. The possibility of another general election and the uncertainty of Brexit, along with other political happenings are all combining to pressure the pound and we’ll have to watch closely as it navigates the political turmoil.

Developing E-Commerce for Your Business

It appears that Britons love their online shopping. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the UK out-shops the US, Germany and France when it comes to online shopping. This is encouraging for businesses starting out in the virtual world on commerce. Whether your business is already established as a bricks and mortar presence or you’re just starting a new business that will be strictly online, knowing that there is a strong customer-base online is one less thing to worry about.

So the e-commerce sector is thriving and you know it’s a good time to set-up your online store but now you have to decide how you’re going to go about choosing the right platform for your needs, The good news is that you don’t have to have any knowledge of HTML, graphics applications or know your Flash from your PNG files, as today e-commerce can be as easy as filling in a few online forms. The hard part is deciding among the many options you have.

There are numerous questions you must ask yourself before jumping into the e-commerce world. Do you want to have your site on your own server or use a hosted application? Many stand by the saying of ‘why reinvent the wheel’. A good point, considering all of the options out there that have been tried and tested. Do you want complete control over every aspect of your online store? If so, you’ll have to be confident in your abilities, or those of someone you hire, to ensure you stay up-to-date while allowing a great shopping experience for your customers.

Security for your customers is very important. Always ensure that your site uses SSL (Secure Socket Layer), which is the industry standard for online payments. You will also want a shopping cart software that is fast and efficient. Security and ease of use is one of the top experiences that online shoppers desire. In this virtual shopping world, your customer can visit another online store with a few clicks of their mouse.

There has been a steady expansion of the packaged e-commerce application over the last few years. Most of the well-know applications now offer a full set of e-commerce tools you can use to construct and manage a professional e-commerce site. Before deciding which route to take, make sure to shop around and ask the right questions of every business you speak with. At the end of the day you want an e-commerce site that is professional, secure, easily updated, and is customer-friendly. Your business is counting on it and so are your customers.

The differences between an online forex software to broker forex

Trying to introduce a newly minted investor to the forex marketplace can be quite challenging. Unlike standardised stock exchanges, the world of foreign exchange is a dynamic, round-the-’clock affair, filled with a sophisticated array of strategies and tactics which contain their fair share of risk and reward. In today’s investing environment, there are two predominant forms of forex trading, those being online forex software and broker-managed forex accounts. Depending upon your previous experience with forex and your level of interest in the day-to-day workings of your forex holdings, each of these two forms of trading may be a perfect match for your needs. With that in mind, we’ve taken the time to outline the key differences between these two platforms in order to help you determine what your next steps should be.

On a very basic level, the primary difference between a broker-managed forex account and online forex software is the level of oversight by investment professionals. As could be expected, broker-managed accounts are managed exclusively by a seasoned foreign exchange broker. In exchange for expert-level advice, casual investors will be required to pay their broker through either a commission basis or recurring fee. Although this will likely reduce profits over time, it’s important to note that the overall gains secured through this form of collaboration may exceed those obtained by a casual investor with little to no knowledge of the forex marketplaces who chooses to manage their own account.

For those who feel very comfortable with the fine details of the forex marketplace, forex online software will likely prove to be an excellent alternative to a broker managed account. Using forex online software, investors can access virtually all of the data that brokers rely upon to make their strategic decisions for clients. Although investors who choose to rely on software instead of a broker will likely be unable to solicit advice from investment professionals, they will also be the exclusive recipient of their profits. This is a significant advantage which will most appeal to those with extensive experience in this marketplace.

Regardless of where you may find yourself in the process of determining whether to hire a broker or become your own day trader, it’s worth taking the time to download all available trials of forex online software so that you can better assess the current state of the industry. We wish you the best of luck in your investment endeavours!

Exchange Rate Forecast for GBP Post-Brexit

It should come as no surprise that recent developments in British politics have proven to be a catalyst for significant fluctuations across a wide array of financial markets. The GBP has proven itself to be particularly sensitive to a post-Brexit reality, with a dramatic free fall in currency value occurring as the vote began to swing towards a Brexit victory. Now that the vote has passed and lawmakers have vowed to heed the will of the people on this issue, the next step for the British government is to trigger the much-discussed Article 50, which will kick off a two-year process of formal negotiation before the UK is no longer an EU member. Precise-ly when Article 50 will be executed however, is unknown, and this is uncertainty is keeping the GBP in rather tepid water as investors remain hesitant as to whether or not a re-investing is in their best interest. Although currency exchange software is not, in itself, a source of knowledge or advice, the charts for recent GBP activity found in these programs will provide no short supply of drama and suspense.

This is not to say, however, that the GBP has not regained some its value since hitting a mul-ti-decade low the day after the vote was completed. In fact, it could be viewed as some form of optimism that the GBP was able to weather as well as it did not only the Brexit results, but also the sudden resignation of David Cameron, a credit downgrade, and bitter infighting amongst members of Parliament. With this in mind, it seems reasonable to assume that, alt-hough progress may be slow, the GBP will continue to regain value as the world comes to grips with the new face of the EU and a starkly independent Britain.

In the more immediate future, many fx investors are waiting to see if the Bank of England opts to pursue a rate cut as a means to encourage business growth and investment in this critical time. Monetary policy easing is definitely one method by which supports can be erected to prop up the GBP and ensure that future declines will be limited in scope. At the moment, the GBP is hovering comfortably at 1.32 GBP / USD. Although many professionals are somewhat bearish regarding future price movements, it is widely acknowledged that the Bank of England pending announcements will significantly influence both short and long-term pricing. Those with currency exchange software are advised to watch the GBP closely in the upcoming weeks.

The Referendum and the GBP

Now that Brexit has finally arrived, it’s possible to dispense with the endless series of predictions and hypotheses related to currency issues and discuss the concrete reality of a post-referendum British pound. For many of us, it doesn’t take sophisticated forex software to predict that the GBP would suffer in the immediate aftermath of this landmark decision. In keeping with the assessments of virtually all analysts, the Pound initially experienced a tre-mendous pricing shock as it became increasingly clear that the referendum was swinging away from the “remain” camp towards a definitive “Leave” vote. As the tallying of votes neared to a close, investors fled from the Pound, causing its value to plummet to levels which have not been seen for the past several decades.

Fortunately for both investors and the economy at large, however, the Pound has begun its path to recovery. Coming off of an immediate post-Brexit low which involved nearly 11% be-ing shaved off the Pound, the British currency has experienced a largely optimistic rebound, sitting currently at nearly 1.33 GBP / USD. It will be quite interesting to observe how the GBP will react to international and domestic policy maneuvers in the upcoming weeks. A number of significant decisions are quite likely looming in the short term, including whether or not the Bank of England will issue a rate cut in an effort to reinforce economic stability in this volatile period.

Although much of British politics have been unpredictable and turbulent, experts are in agreement that the GBP is behaving within clearly defined and expected patterns, at least for the moment. Given the fact that the UK has expressed that they will not initiate divorce proceedings from the EU until the beginning of the new year, it stands to reason that this de-lay will likely mitigate some of the risks associated with this currency. That being said, it is, perhaps, implausible to believe that the GBP will recover significantly or even approach pre-Brexit value until some sort of decisive announcement is made relating to not only the time-line for the pending Brexit, but also the finer details which will properly illuminate how this his-toric moment will influence the political, economic and cultural spheres of the country at large.

Although many experts continue to express their skepticism regarding the short-term outlook for the GBP, it may be worth keeping a close eye on to see if any forthcoming politi-cal actions catalyse investor enthusiasm. For those with industry-standard forex software, a concise, up-to-the minute evaluation would be immensely interesting to observe

What exactly is Forex Trading?

The chances are good that most casual investors have, at some point or another, heard the term “Forex trading”. Many others are well aware what the term “forex” means, but simply had no idea that currency could be traded in similar fashion to stocks and bonds. With that in mind, we’ve decided to create this brief primer which should, hopefully, illuminate some of the more complex concepts and ideas within the forex marketplace.

At its most fundamental level, forex trading involves offering a single unit of a currency, be it the British Pound, US Dollar, etc., in exchange for a unit of a differing national currency. Be-fore these currencies are traded, a price is agreed to at which the units will be exchanged. Like bonds and stocks, currency is traded in a variety of marketplaces all over the world. What you may not have known, however, is that forex trading is by far the most heavily trad-ed market in the entire world. In fact, the estimated value of all daily forex transactions is ap-proximately $5.3 trillion.

The forex markets were created largely to facilitate international trade. In the era before the Euro, European forex trading was a highly active marketplace. Today, forex remains a hive of activity even with a common currency among the bulk of European nations. Savvy trad-ers attempt to speculate how future prices for currency will be affected by various parame-ters, be it political turbulence, economic news or other influential forces. Just like the tradi-tional stock market, the goal is to earn a profit by buying a currency at a low price and selling it when it is valued much more highly.

One of the primary distinctions between the forex marketplace and the more traditional stock markets is that forex trading occurs 24 hours a day, 5.5 days a week. This is due to the fact that there is no centralized trading hub for the forex market. Every forex transaction taking place today occurs through a sophisticated computer trading system. Although this may sound somewhat unreliable, it’s important to remember that these systems are used by countless professional traders on a daily basis. Believe it or not, there are no physical forex exchanges in existence!

Given the fact that only small changes seem to occur in the price of various curren-cies, forex traders often engage in extensive leveraging to maximize their profits. Leveraging can be thought of as borrowing large amounts of capital in order to engage in massive trans-actions within the forex marketplace. If you are trading through a large brokerage firm, it’s not uncommon for 1000:1 leverage to be offered to those interesting in taking it. That being said, it’s important to remember that, while leveraging offers the possibility of big gains, it can also result in crippling losses!

Although this may sound like a unique and exciting world, it’s important to remember that forex trading can be an unforgiving world for novices. Before beginning your pursuit into forex trading, it will well be worth your time to properly educate yourself in the fine workings of this sophisticated system. Without this knowledge, you may find yourself out of luck and out of cash!

Fortunately, a variety of powerful forex trading platforms are available for those who are willing to take a step forward and venture into this fascination world. In fact, many forex simulators are also available for individuals who would prefer to test their strategies with fake currency before investing their own funds. Best of your luck with your adventures into forex trading!

Category: Exchange & Remmitance