Categories
Business

SWIFT Network Restrictions Could Cripple Russia in the Ukraine War

I came across this information about SWIFT network posted the other day. This could have a very big impact on the Russian and Ukraine war and instead of trying to put it in my own words I thought I would repost it.


Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western governments have dropped heavy sanctions on Russian banks, companies, and elites—including President Vladimir Putin himself.

But they’ve yet to move forward with what’s been called the “nuclear option”: banning Russia from using SWIFT.

What is SWIFT?

Belgium’s Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) runs a messaging service that facilitates transactions across 11,000+ financial institutions globally. Think of it as the “Gmail of global banking.”

Entities in every country except North Korea use SWIFT to shuffle trillions of dollars’ worth of funds across borders. And Russia is a SWIFT power user—as a major supplier of energy and other goods, it ranks sixth globally for payment messages sent on SWIFT. So if Russia were cut off from SWIFT, “the nation would essentially be severed from much of the global financial system,” the NYT wrote.

Thing is, not everyone’s prepared for that

While the UK and Ukraine are trying to boot Russia from the global group chat, the US and some EU nations are a little more hesitant. Here’s why:

  1. They’re not ready to go full James Franco in 127 Hours. Their citizens still use Russian energy to keep the lights on, so shutting down Russia’s Gmail account would essentially force financial communications onto a janky platform like 1990s-era AOL, resulting in a colossal headache for everyone involved.
  2. Another worry for the US is how blocking Russia from SWIFT would impact the dominance of the US dollar in the longer term. The US enjoys many benefits from the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency, and US officials are concerned that booting Russia from SWIFT would spur Moscow to join up with Beijing and develop alternative payment systems (on the blockchain, for instance) that undermine the dollar.

Of course, workarounds to SWIFT already exist, which is another reason why some sanctions experts say that blocking SWIFT access is an overrated tool for punishing Russia. You could do it, but you might be creating more problems for yourself in the process.

Categories
Business Tech

Apple Will Allow iPhones to Accept Contactless Payments by NFC

Apple is reportedly going to allow iPhones to start accepting contactless payments. This is huge news!

It will dramatically affect any card company and how they collect their fees – as well as companies like Square and other POS services.

Apple has reporting been working on this service since 2020, when it purchased a Canadian startup called Mobeewave. Mobeewave’s technology only needs an app and the phone’s NFC to work.

I expect that Apple will roll out such a service as part of Apple Pay.

Game changer!

Categories
Finance Stock Market

GME and AMC are Killing Short Sellers and Its Great!

Wallstreetbets is a sub-reddit where they wanted to try to build a community to for the big short sellers out of certain stocks, but what they didn’t realise is that they can really kill these companies with the power of the retail investors.

Short Seller percentages of outstanding stock:

  • GME = 102% Short Sellers
  • AMC = 18% Short Sellers

Most companies tend to be below 2% in short sellers.

At the time of writing this GME is up to $337 per share (up 128% in one day) and AMC 19.35 per share (up 286% in one day).

The community seems to be using their retail power to try to force these short sellers out of the market and make them bankrupt.

Stick it to the man!

Categories
Portfolio

Portfolio – Introduction

I have been running investment portfolios for a company and also some high net worth individuals for the past 5 years. Over those years I have managed to beat the S&P 500 index every year in terms of overall yearly returns. I have always had a very simple investment philosophy which revolves around Benjamin Grahams teachings with a few tweaks for the modern day (also look up to Warren Buffett).

Im going to be starting a section on here for personal finance in which I’m going to tell everywhere when I’m buying a stock – at what price and why. I hope this might give everyone a little insight into my thinking.

I have started a new category on here called Portfolio. This will be the easiest place to follow the latest happenings.

I’m hoping this just helps one other person!

Categories
Finance

How to Pay Yourself as a Ltd Company – Directors Salary 2020/2021 – Dividends vs Salary UK – with Examples

This is a great video which very simply explains how to pay yourself from a limited company in the UK for 2020/2021.

Categories
Business

Is getting venture capital similar to winning the lottery?

NO!

A lottery win means you receive the money with no obligations.

Getting Venture Capital means it is only the beginning of your journey and that you are selling part of your company with an expectation that it will grow and be worth more money in the future. This comes with a huge amount of pressure and a lot of work!

Categories
Tech

How much can you earn from a Spotify podcast?

Podcasts are completely free on Spotify at the moment. Thus, Spotify won’t pay you any royalties no matter how many times your podcast is played or downloaded.

How Do I Make Money on Podcasts?

Advertising / Sponsors is the main way to monetize a podcast at present. You will need to create a podcast with listeners and then go out and find Sponsors.