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Haitham Al Ghais, Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has affirmed that OPEC will remain a pillar of market stability and a critical voice for oil’s role in the world for decades. Delivered to coincide with OPEC’s 65th anniversary, his remarks emphasised the organisation’s long‐standing mission and future direction.

OPEC projects oil demand to reach around 123 million barrels per day by 2050, driven by economic expansion and growing populations. Al Ghais warned that predictions of a near-term decline in relevance or “peak oil” should be viewed with scepticism in light of long‐term demand forecasts and OPEC’s historical resilience.

He noted that oil remains indispensable across many spheres of daily life: transportation, construction, food production and healthcare. Oils and petroleum derivatives, he said, are foundational not just for consumers but for societal and economic prosperity more broadly. Without them, critical infrastructure and supply chains could be severely disrupted.

Al Ghais described OPEC’s foundation in 1960 as a unifying vision for oil-producing nations, asserting sovereign control over production, supporting regular supply to consuming nations, and ensuring a fair return for investors. He reflected on the group’s evolution, including its expansion and the formation of the OPEC+ framework in 2016, which he said strengthened its ability to respond to global shocks such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 65-year mark, he argued, is not simply an anniversary but a reaffirmation of core objectives: balancing producer and consumer interests; dialogue and cooperation with non-OPEC producers; and emphasizing a holistic, multi-technology approach to energy security and poverty alleviation in developing regions.

He also stressed that energy security is “inconceivable without oil,” especially for societies coping with energy poverty. For OPEC, the challenge ahead involves ensuring that growth in demand is met “in a sustainable way” that incorporates environmental, social and economic considerations, while keeping market stabilisation efforts front and centre.

Singapore is gearing up to reveal a comprehensive “value unlock” package by the end of the year aimed at reviving the nation’s stock market, regulators said. Key initiatives will likely build on the Equity Market Development Programme, stronger listing incentives, streamlined regulations and enhanced shareholder rights, intended to improve liquidity, listings and investor confidence.

The EQDP, a S$5 billion programme announced earlier in the year, will see its first tranche of S$1.1 billion allocated to three asset managers—Avanda Investment Management, JP Morgan Asset Management and Fullerton Fund Management—to invest in Singapore-listed equities. These selections were made partly based on alignment with objectives to broaden participation beyond large-cap stocks and strengthen asset-management capabilities.

Alongside co-investment funding, tax incentives are being offered for primary and secondary listings. A 20 per cent corporate income tax rebate applies for qualifying new primary listings, and a 10 per cent rebate for secondary ones. There is also pressure to ease regulatory requirements around prospectus disclosures, shorten IPO-approval timelines, and allow earlier investor outreach in IPOs.

Regulatory reforms under consideration include reducing the profit requirement for Mainboard listings, aligning secondary listing rules with international disclosure standards, and possibly removing the financial watch-list mechanism for loss-making firms while increasing the role of disclosure over prescriptive reporting.

Market analysts welcome the measures but caution that they may not address deeper structural weaknesses. Singapore’s exchange has seen more delistings than IPOs in many months, a low number of growth-stage listings, a prevalence of companies with weak profitability, and low free floats among many issued shares. These factors have limited trading depth and made it harder for mid-caps to attract institutional investors.

Insolvency reform is also part of the picture. Proposed changes to Singapore’s Companies Act would broaden the so-called cross-class “cram-down” powers, letting restructuring plans be imposed even over dissenting shareholders in certain cases. The proposals include streamlining processes for issuing new shares or disposing of assets during restructuring, and revising compensation frameworks for restructuring managers.

Regulatory agencies such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Singapore Exchange Regulation, and the Equities Market Review Group are all involved in shaping the yet-to-be-announced package. Public consultations on many proposals have taken place or are underway, especially around IPO rules, listing thresholds, and listing admission criteria.

Australia’s Reserve Bank, through Assistant Governor Brad Jones, has warned that the era of stability and integration following the Cold War has given way to a more contested strategic environment that carries elevated risk for governments, financial institutions, and markets. At a FINSIA event in Sydney on 12 September, Jones declared that “the era of the peace dividend is over,” citing geopolitical, technological and operational disruptions reshaping the global financial order.

Jones described the international security and economic system as undergoing “seismic adjustment — on a scale and speed unseen in eight decades.” He flagged multiple forces contributing to instability: rising strategic rivalry, weakening tenets of the rules-based order, frictions in globalisation, and increasing emphasis on self-insurance by nations and firms against a broader set of possible harms.

Technological advances form one front of the risk profile. Jones spoke of an expanding surface for cyber-attacks driven by digitalisation, concerns over concentration risk in cloud services, and quantum computing’s looming threat to encryption systems. Artificial intelligence, while promising productivity gains, poses risks of misinformation, fraud, and systemic instability due to herding behaviour.

Critical infrastructure exposures were cited as especially vulnerable: telecommunications networks, the electrical grid, payment systems, and market infrastructure. Jones referenced a recent example in Europe, where cascading power outages in the Iberian Peninsula disrupted both households and economic activity, pointing out that such disruptions would be far more dangerous if key financial infrastructure were affected.

To respond, the RBA is pressing for what it calls an “anti-fragile” financial system—one not simply capable of withstanding shocks but able to adapt and improve because of them. Innovation, competition, and efficiency are being positioned not as opposing goals to resilience but as complementary. Initiatives under way include work with industry to bolster payments resilience, frameworks to ensure that future payments systems embed reliability and recoverability, migration to quantum-safe encryption standards, and reforms aimed at enabling new entrants in financial market infrastructure to reduce concentration risk.

These concerns build on earlier warnings in the RBA’s Financial Stability Review, which noted that heightened geopolitical tensions, trade uncertainty, and technological vulnerabilities could interact with existing financial system risks. The review flagged operational risks from interconnectedness and dependency on third parties for infrastructure and services.

The shift has implications for monetary policy, regulatory oversight, and business strategy. Regulators are likely to place greater emphasis on risk scenarios involving geopolitics, cyber-threats and supply-chain disruptions; financial institutions will need to review and stress-test against non-traditional threats while ensuring agility; and policy frameworks may need to evolve to address threats outside standard macroeconomic shocks.

China has seen financial flows totalling about US$4.5 trillion, a figure that many analysts believe marks a turning point in how its markets are engaging with the world. The scale of cross-border investment—both inbound and outbound—is now surpassing trade in many respects, reflecting Beijing’s accelerating liberalisation efforts and a growing confidence among foreign and domestic investors.

The financial sum comprises equity, bond, and other capital movements, and corresponds with recent policy moves designed to reduce restrictions and open up China’s capital markets. One key driver is the Stock Connect programme, which allows mainland Chinese investors to purchase eligible Hong Kong–listed stocks and gives international investors access to A-shares. Southbound flows—money moving from mainland China into Hong Kong—have been especially significant, gathering close to US$100 billion within the first half of 2025. That alone matched the total stock in 2024 via that channel.

Yields on Chinese government bonds have hit highs not seen since late 2024, suggesting investors are now demanding greater returns, but also that they perceive risks such as inflation and currency pressures to be easing. The 10- and 30-year yields climbing indicates that institutions expect stabilization in key macro indicators, even if headline economic growth remains uneven. The bond market, however, has also become more volatile, driven by leveraged buying of equities and speculative pressure in certain sectors.

Another contributing factor is the behaviour of domestic institutional investors. With over 160 trillion yuan in household savings, China’s policy makers are encouraging pension funds, insurance companies, and sovereign funds to shift more capital into domestic equities. These kinds of flows reinforce the internal market strength, even as external capital enters or exits depending on global risk appetite.

Hong Kong’s IPO market has benefited greatly. Several major mainland firms—including tech and battery makers—have either listed in Hong Kong or signalled plans to do so. This has helped Hong Kong reclaim its spot among the world’s most active IPO hubs in 2025. The changes to listing rules, including shorter approval times for eligible mainland firms, have been essential in this revival.