London, England, United Kingdom
Leading Market News International's editorial team as it breaks source-based news on the world's major central banks.
Responsible for the news front page of Market Intelligence’s news and data platform. In addition to curating the Top News section, selecting and often providing final edits to the most important stories produced across a global newsroom, I have also set up and managed a 16-strong team in four countries to initiate coverage of global markets, macroeconomics and political risk, preparing comprehensive coverage guidelines from scratch in pursuit of the highest editorial standards.
Subbing and often completely rewriting political and economic copy from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Duties include assisting overstretched bureaux by lead-writing major breaking stories from places such as Cyprus and Syria. Made sure stories went out with the proper context, and that additional reporting was done if necessary.
My responsibilities included ensuring a global perspective for the emerging market story, and duties included writing long, detailed stories on capital flows and debt markets. My work involved regularly contacting banks underwriting both corporate and sovereign bond sales as well as interviewing large institutional investors and hedge funds. I also monitored trends in foreign exchange and interest rate markets, using such instruments as implied volatility, risk reversal contracts, forward rate agreements and cross-currency interest rate swaps.
Editing macro-economic and foreign exchange markets copy from Reuters bureaux throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Supervising a team of international service journalists, together with 16 Spanish-language correspondents, as well as pictures and TV operations. Most of our work focussed on the Spanish economy and major companies such as Banco Santander and BBVA. I oversaw coverage during the financial crisis, including the Spanish government´s implementation of a massive public works programme and its attempts to recapitalise and restructure the banking system via its FROB fund. I also regularly covered speeches by visiting officials from the European Central Bank. I managed the integration of the Spanish news operations of Reuters and Thomson Financial News. Perhaps my biggest scoop was reporting comments by Alan Greenspan in May 2007 that the Chinese stock market was overvalued. This story triggered a correction in equity markets throughout the world.
Coordinating a team of roughly 30 reporters, photographers and TV professionals covering Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. Top breaking news stories included the coup against Chavez, the breakdown of peace talks with the FARC and the kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt. I interviewed Colombian President Alvaro Uribe twice, as well as Ecuadorean President Lucio Gutierrez, and many others including coca growers and top FARC commanders. The job gave me substantial experience of working in hostile environments, and required me to make regular decisions in order to minimise the risks to which reporting staff were exposed in zones of conflict and civil disturbance.