The Middleman Margin

The ContextThe U.S. Treasury Department escalated sanctions targeting Iran’s shadow fleet in January 2026. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated nine vessels and their owners, entities that collectively moved hundreds of millions in Iranian oil....

The Alliance Unravelling

The ContextOn 4 December 2025, the Trump administration released a National Security Strategy that fundamentally recalibrates the U.S.-Europe relationship. This is not a policy tweak. It is a strategic rupture. The document directs stronger language at European allies...

The Contagion Risk

The ContextThis isn’t a few companies failing. It’s a systemic rupture. In the first half of 2025, 17 mega-bankruptcies (companies with over $1bn in assets) were filed—the highest half-year count since the 2020 pandemic shock. Through November 2025, 717...

The Poisoned Acquisition

The ContextOn 10 December 2025, the High Court appointed PwC as liquidators to six Chance Voight entities holding approximately $50 million in client deposits. The FMA triggered this, launching a formal investigation. The strategic trigger was an acquisition: in...

The Regulator’s Fault Line

The ContextOn 13 November 2025, a WorkSafe subsidiary, Energy Safety New Zealand, enacted a change to the Electricity (Safety) Regulations. It deleted the clause banning switches in the main earth (PEN) conductor for homes and businesses. The regulator’s own technical...

The Height of Failure

The ContextIn December 2024, a Chinese migrant worker died at an Auckland aluminium company’s warehouse. He was loading beams into racking above two metres when he fell from a scissor lift. WorkSafe has now laid a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act...