In recent weeks, there has been an increase in calls for an alternative public banking system to be introduced in Ireland to deliver local community banking. This comes with the closure of Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland branches across the country in recent months. 

In February of this year, the state of Texas suffered a major power crisis which came about as a result of three severe winter storms. A massive electricity generation failure lead to shortages of water, food and heat, and left more than 4.5 million customers with no power. In order to prevent incidents like this in the future, on April 8th the Texas House of Representatives debated a bill that would force wind and solar plants to pay for grid services essential to keeping supply and demand in balance.

Chinese regulators have dealt yet another monumental blow to Alibaba, the largest e-commerce platform in China. This comes in the form of a $2.8 billion fine, after the company was found to have been abusing its dominant market position since 2015. Chinese regulators launched an anti-monopoly probe in December 2020, to try and crackdown on Alibaba’s shadier strategies.

Guyana is a South American country on the North Atlantic cost, defined by its dense rainforests. With a population of only 782,766 according to the World Bank, it doesn’t necessarily seem like the place in which business would thrive. Present day Guyana reflects its British and Dutch colonial past; it is the only English-speaking country in South America. Since its independence in 1966, Guyana’s main assets have been its natural resources, which include rainforests, sugar plantations, rice and gold.

Credit Suisse’s stock fell 13%, as Nomura fell a record 16% as large sell offs from a large U.S investor hit the banks, who will incur substantial losses related to the trades. Archegos Capital Management (the root of these bank’s issues) is a private hedge fund run by Bill Hwang. Archegos is a family investment vehicle.

Non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) may be the solution to valuing digital art. Fungibility is the quality of being exchangeable. For example, physical currency or stocks are almost perfectly fungible as they can be exchanged for one another, whereas a piece of art or a house cannot be exchanged for another, as they each have a unique value.