2014 — Changing it up
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In the wake of the rate-rigging scandal in London, there were some serious concerns regarding the absence of rules governing benchmarks. As we’ve already seen, a lot of market regulations were updated and enhanced following these events and the financial crisis. So, how could the regulators overcome such a scandal? Simple, by totally updating The EU Market Abuse Directive (MAD), which is exactly what they did in April 2014!
MAD was crucial in ‘driving European recovery’ in the wake of the financial crisis. It aimed to take on shortcomings in the market by focusing on enhanced investor protection and market integrity. At the same time, it ensured that cooperation between regulators was strengthened while explicitly banning benchmark manipulation and reinforcing the sanctioning and investigative powers of regulators. Drop the mic, MAD.
However, 2014 wasn’t all about stability. Quite the contrary actually… 2014 was heralded as the year that oil prices went mad. After hitting highs in June, a surge in oil production sent WTI prices tumbling to a mere $60/barrel, with European Brent following suit.
The world actually expected an oil price spike due to geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and Iran, but it never materialised. Instead the astronomical drop threatened Russia’s living standards and public finances!
With such volatility throughout the year, what lay ahead in 2015? Find out tomorrow when we drop the SNBomb….
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