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International Finance

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Central Banks

    Bank of England 

    Bank of Japan (in English) 

    Bundesbank, Germany (in English) 

    Central Banking Resource Center  Endorsed by the Wall Street Journal, this site provides a gateway to Central Banks (arranged by country), Ministries of Finance and Economics, currency boards, monetary research and training centers, and banking institutes and associations. 

    Federal Reserve System (U.S. Central Bank)  This organization oversees the 12 U.S. Federal Reserve Banks.  The site contains transcripts of testimony and speeches (including Alan Greenspan's), the Beige Book (aka, the Current Economic Conditions report, with archive), research and data and downloadable reports and publications.  A useful site with comprehensive, easy-to-access information.

    • Federal Reserve Bank of Boston  This site includes free access to general audience, research and banking publications.  Outside of the Web site, the Fed operates a research library in downtown Boston with some 65,000 volumes on economics.  It is open to the public.
    • Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago  Of particular interest is their National Information Center of Banking Information which provides extensive information about banks and other institutions regulated or supervised by the Federal Reserve.  This includes foreign institutions, acquisition searches and performance reports plus much more.
    • Federal Reserve Bank of New York  This site provides information about current interest rates, foreign exchange rates, rates on government securities and commercial paper rates. Up-to-date statistical information and research is available for free.  Publications may be ordered online.

Industry Associations

    American Bankers Association 

    International Institute of Finance  Created in 1983 in response to the international debt crisis by 38 banks of the leading industrialized countries, the IIF has evolved to meet the changing needs of the financial community.  Press releases and publications available online. 

    International Organization of Securities Commissions  The IOSCO and its member agencies seek to promote high standards of regulation to protect the integrity of international securities transactions.  Their site includes free access to their documents library which are downloadable in Adobe Acrobat for free.  (Archive dates back to 1989, though access to documents prior to 1996 is spotty.) 

    International Swaps & Derivatives Association  The ISDA is a regulatory body which oversees the derivatives industry.  Access is available to the EMU Protocol, its Annual Market Survey conference schedules and press releases. 

    Institute of International Bankers  The IIB is the only organization "devoted exclusively to representing and advancing the interests of the international banking community in the United States."  Its site contains free access to publications, submissions and a calendar of events. 

    National Association of Securities Dealers Regulation  A regulatory body overseeing the securities industry, this well-organized site includes free access to its dispute resolution process and procedures, enforcement actions and connection to links related to the securities industry. 

    Securities Industry Association  An excellent resource for securities-related information in government relations, privacy issues, international trade (WTO and the Euro), legal and public trust.  Some publications are available free online, others must be ordered for a fee from the organizations.  Well organized and searchable.

International Organizations & Government Entities

    Bank for International Settlements  The BIS serves "to promote the cooperation of central banks and to provide additional facilities for international financial operations.  One of the major aims of greater international central bank cooperation [is] to foster international financial stability."  This site includes an extensive list of free, downloadable publications, the BIS Review (articles and speeches by important central bankers), and frequently updated links to Central Banks around the world. 

    European Investment Bank  The EIB was established to "finance capital investment furthering European integration by promoting EU economic policies."  This site offers general information on the bank's operations with special detail given to the Euro, the Innovation 2000 Initiative and the Balkan Task Force. 

    Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) via Rutgers Accounting Web.

    Foreign Investment Advisory Service A joint service of the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank, FIAS helps developing countries improve their climate for foreign direct investment.

    G8 Information Centre Information on meetings, documents and research of the G8 group.

    Group of 30  A private, non-profit international body composed of senior representatives from academia  and the public and private sectors.  The group aims to "deepen the understanding of international and financial issues.  The site includes primarily a list of members as well as publication ordering information. 

    International Finance Corporation  Considered the world's largest multilateral source of financing for private enterprise in emerging economies. Its primary work is to promote the growth of productive and profitable, private enterprises in its developing member countries.

    International Monetary Fund (IMF)  This searchable site includes free, full-text and searchable access to news releases, publications (newsletters, staff reports, working papers, country reports, policy analysis and discussion, etc.), fund rates, standards and many other useful items for researchers. 

    International Organization of Securities Commissions

    Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) "...charters, regulates, and supervises national banks to insure a safe, sound and competitive banking system..."  Outlines the workings of this group and its relations with the U.S. Treasury Department. 

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)  An "...independent, nonpartisan, quasi judicial regulatory agency with responsibility for administering the federal securities laws."  Contains the fully searchable EDGAR Database, a collection of corporate filings with the SEC.  Includes a good list of links to related sites. 

    World Bank  The Business Section on this site includes in-depth information on project finance, micro-finance, investment marketing management, and risk management programs.  The site is fully searchable and available in English, French and Spanish.

Internet Resources

    ADR (American Depositary Receipts) This site from JP Morgan allows you to search for comprehensive company specific data (news, quotes, analyst estimates, institutional ownership and more), see a global overview of the day's trading activity, region and country specific data and research global industry sectors. 

    Annual Report Library  Search from over 1.45 million annual reports and proxies from corporations, foundations, banks, mutual funds and financial institutions. 

    Banking on the WWW  From the IfBG (Germany), this comprehensive site offers links to banks of the world, supervising and deposit insurance, academic research on banking, banking and finance in electronic media, law and banking, plus more. 

    Euro Homepage  This comprehensive site run by Dr. Giancarlo Corsetti (formerly at Yale University's Economics Department) contains anything and everything you need to know about the Euro. The site includes basic readings, news and information, European Central Bank and other official sources, economists dedicated to the EMU, policy agendas, monetary, fiscal and structural issues, the international perspective and loads of other resources. 

    Financial Data Finder

    FindLaw's Banking Links  A comprehensive list of links to resources dedicated to banking and law. 

    Global Investor  An Internet resource for international investors, you will find a global investment directory, global market performance, ADR information and investing online. Comprehensive and easy to navigate.

    Global Macroeconomic and Financial Policy Site  Maintained by Dr. Nouriel Roubini at New York University's Stern School of Business, this site includes basic readings on the cause of the Asian financial crisis, proposed solutions, the role of the IMF, international capital flows, news articles and analyses, country analyses, information on Latin America (including Brazil), political and historical backgrounds and risk assessment.  

    Guide to Understanding Financials  From IBM, this site gives a basic introduction to reading financial statements in a company's annual report.

    International Center For Finance  At the Yale School of Management, this center conducts research through working papers, presentations and frequent communications with the financial press. Recent working papers and articles about research can be found on the working papers page and the press clippings page. We also provide links to other important sites on the web about finance. 

    IRAsia (Investor Relations Asia)  This site offers "timely and authoritative, full-text announcements/press releases for Asian listed companies on the Web. It has a Pan-Asia vision, and it is THE platform where Asia's listed companies communicate with the global investing community.  Free email alerts to help investors stay abreast of the market.  Primary focus on Hong Kong.  

    Microfinance Gateway A searchable database of articles and case studies.

    NASDAQ 

    National Information Center of Banking Information  From the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, this site provides extensive information about banks and other institutions regulated or supervised by the Federal Reserve.  This includes foreign institutions, acquisition searches and performance reports plus much more. 

    New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)  This well-organized site also includes free access to its Data Library which provides among other things a statistics archive and large block transactions information.  Excellent company information for international issues on the exchange.

    Wachowicz's Web World  This site provides excellent selection of links to business, finance and other management sites with PowerPoint slides and Excel templates for financial problems (e.g., cash flow analysis).

    Wharton Financial Information Center  Welcome to the Wharton Financial Institutions Center, an independently managed site at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The FIC sponsors and directs primary research on financial institutions.

    WWW Virtual Library -- Finance  From the Ohio State University, this site includes new links, popular sites, exchanges, world markets, market news, and much more.

News Services, Journals & Publications

Risk Assessment

    Country Indicators for Foreign Policy: Risk Assessment from Carleton University.

    Country Risk Analysis from Duke University.

    IFRI's Risk Institute  This guide to regulation and control of financial risk from the International Financial Risk Institute in Switzerland provides a comprehensive look at financial risk management. 

    Moody's Online  From Moody's Investors Services, a global credit analysis and financial opinion firm, Moody's provides the international investment community with an international standard in credit ratings on debt and certain other securities issued by North American, state and regional entities, multinationals, and select sovereign issuers.  Moody's publishes extensive financial data (ratings and research) in both print and electronic formats.

    RiskMetrics System  From JP Morgan, this free service (which required registration) allows the user to evaluate market risk.  The data sets contain "consistently calculated volatilities and correlation forecasts for use in estimating market risks. The asset classes covered are government bonds, money markets, swaps, foreign exchange and equity indices (where applicable) for 31 currencies, and commodities. Data sets are provided for a 1 day and 1 month horizon. 

    Standard & Poor's Ratings Services  The world's leading provider of timely, objective credit analysis and information. We have been rating conventional-term debt and general-obligation corporate and municipal bonds since 1916. Their ratings cover global debt issuers, and over 30,000 bonds and preferred stock issues of some 5,600 companies in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australasia, and more than 13,000 municipal, state, sovereign, and supranational entities, and 10,000 structured debt issues. Their two main services, fee- based, are: ERIS, Electronic Rating Information Service and Sovereign Reports.