22 February 2016 – Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia posted the first major hint that the biggest scandal in Maltese history was about to break. “It’s traditional to eat lamb on Easter Sunday, so Konrad Mizzi and his estranged wife Sai Mizzi Liang will be getting theirs from New Zealand, courtesy of their fixer Brian Tonna, who has a desk at the Auberge de Castille”. […]
SGX, the Singapore Exchange, is looking to further boost its Chinese derivatives business by offering to collaborate with a planned new local futures venture backed by the founders of one of China’s largest hedge funds. Loh Boon Chye, the bourse’s chief executive, told the Financial Times he was willing to open its clearing infrastructure to the challenger, called Apex, so it could conduct futures trading in the […]
Chinese insurance group Anbang has threatened legal action against a leading investigative magazine over what it called “slanderous” allegations about financial irregularities and the marital status of its chairman, in the latest sign of the intensifying power struggle in the financial sector. Anbang, which has curbed its long acquisition spree amid heightened capital controls, said in a statement on Sunday that Caixin had “forged rumours” that chairman Wu […]
30 April 2017 UAE – According to the annual YouGov survey conducted by IP Global, the leading full-service property investment company; North America, UK, Germany and Australia remain the top property investment destination for UAE residents. The survey results show that when it comes to investing in property abroad, North America is the most popular market among UAE citizens. The UK with 13% and Australia with 11%, […]
This story was originally published on Medium and is being republished here with the permission of its author. Two years ago in Hong Kong, I sat around a conference table with some of the finest journalists to have worked in the Chinese media in the past two decades. Left and right of me were reporters who had broken major stories of corruption, malfeasance and cruelty, and who […]
Emerging from an Hermès store in Shanghai with a shiny new watch costing “tens of thousands” of renminbi, Zhao Feifei is emblematic of a younger generation of Chinese consumers driving a rebound in sales of European luxury brands. “I’m earning more than before so I’m more willing to spend,” says Ms Zhao, who works in an internet finance company. The 30-year-old is one of the many customers […]
Short-term borrowing costs in China have climbed to their highest level in two years as comments from President Xi Jinping fan investor expectations that a “regulatory windstorm” is part of a broader crackdown on the financial sector. China’s premier on Thursday described finance as the “core of a modern economy”, according to state news agency Xinhua, adding that “accurate judgment of potential financial risks serves as a […]
April 28, 2017 by: Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong Friday 05.00 BST Overview Equities fell on Friday in Asia as the region’s markets took their cues from an underwhelming session on Wall Street, while currencies pared earlier rises amid mixed signals on the future of Nafta. Hot topic Asia-Pacific equities were choppy after Wall Street investors on Thursday digested the prospects of the Trump administration’s proposed tax […]
By James Pomfret, Lawrence White and Sumeet Chatterjee | DONGGUAN, China/LONDON/HONG KONG DONGGUAN, China/LONDON/HONG KONG In the digital age, footfall in bricks-and-mortar outlets is an incomplete measure of business activity, but HSBC’s empty branches in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) suggest it’s not all plain sailing for the bank’s expansion in mainland China. HSBC, the world’s sixth-largest bank by assets, announced in 2015 that it would hire […]
· “The Middle East remains an extremely important region and we are committed to enhancing our customer experience,” says Robert Williams · British Airways’ recently announced investment plans to boost customer experience with the new First Wing now open to passengers flying from Kuwait · Airline set to launch 22 New Routes in 2017 expanding its network of onward connections for Kuwaiti and wider Middle […]
Tencent’s cloud computing unit has launched a data centre in Silicon Valley and will open another four outside its domestic market, as it looks to expand its portfolio to include cloud and artificial intelligence. The Chinese internet giant said the following four facilities in Mumbai, Seoul, Frankfurt, and Moscow would be operational this year, adding to its global network of data centres that currently include Singapore, Toronto, […]
It’s taken the new chief executive of the London Metal Exchange Matthew Chamberlain four years to understand the complexity of the 140-year-old bourse. Now he’s on a mission to simplify it. Days after his appointment was announced by the LME’s parent Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing the 35-year-old former investment banker has outlined his vision to attract more customers and protect London’s place as the centre of […]
HONG KONG Hong Kong police on Wednesday arrested two disqualified pro-independence legislators for unlawful assembly over an effort to force their way into a Legislative Council meeting in November, their political party said. Yau Wai-ching, 25, and Baggio Leung, 30, were picked up at their homes early in the morning and taken to a police station for questioning, their party, Youngspiration, said in a statement. Their assistants […]
Wednesday 03:00 BST Overview Momentum from a buoyant Wall Street carried over into Asia trading as equities rallied while bonds and oil prices continued to slide. Hot topic Stock markets across the region took their cues from Wall Street, where on Tuesday the S&P 500 neared a record closing high and the tech-focused Nasdaq closed above 6,000 for the first time. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 was […]
Tuesday 12:30 BST What you need to know ● Stock markets extend rally on French election relief● Euro adds to gains as Paris’ bond yields steady ● Havens attract sellers, pushing down gold, the yen and Bund prices● Traders eye Nasdaq 6,000 as company earnings slip into fast gear● Brent crude prices higher as base metals firm——————- Hot topic The relief over the French election, which boosted […]
By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Asian equities advanced on Tuesday as the return of risk appetite following a centrist victory in the first round of the French presidential election lifted several regional markets to multi-year highs, while the euro retained most of its overnight gains. Safe-haven assets, including the yen and gold remained under pressure, while the Canadian dollar fell after the U.S. announced new duties […]
Risk is definitely on this morning as European shares soar, led by French stocks and a new record high in Germany’s Dax, after a “French relief rally” in which the first round of the country’s presidential elections prompted investors to bet that establishment candidate Emmanuel Macron will win a runoff vote next month, and who is seen as a 61% to 39% favorite to defeat Le Pen […]
For Myanmar’s first generation of bank customers, there is little difference between a Visa card and one from China’s state-controlled card-payment monopoly, UnionPay. With only 2 per cent of the Southeast Asian nation’s 53m people carrying plastic in their wallets, UnionPay’s rapid push into the frontier market will make its red, blue and green logo one of the first that Burmese youth see when opening an account […]
23 April 2017 H.E Ali Salim Al Midfa, Chairman of Sharjah Airport Authority, was re-elected to serve a second term as Regional Board Director, during the 12th Regional Assembly of the Airports Council International (ACI) Asia Pacific, which was held in Doha, Qatar, last week. H.E was re-elected for another three-year term, as one of the 13 Regional Board Directors, by a majority of votes by the […]
SHANGHAI/BEIJING Global security companies and their smaller Chinese rivals are jostling for business along Beijing’s modern-day “Silk Road”, the grandiose plan for land and sea routes connecting the world’s second largest economy with the rest of Asia and beyond. Representing investments of hundreds of billions of dollars, the pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen boosting economic growth at home, and as positive for everything […]
The euro surged in early Asian trading after Emmanuel Macron, investors’ preferred candidate, appeared on track to make it through to the final round of the French presidential election, which opinion polls suggest he will win. Mr Macron, who supports open markets and France staying in the EU, won 23.7 per cent of the vote in the first round vote on Sunday, according to three estimates for […]
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has warned overseas organisations selling to Australia that noncompliance with the proposed GST Low Value Goods legislation amendment may result in their websites being blocked. The comments were made in response to a question posed by the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on Friday, which is looking into the Treasury Laws Amendment (GST Low Value Goods) Bill 2017 that will see goods under […]
Two pillars — Trump and China — have supported a bounteous few months for global portfolio investors. But the hope invested in both is starting to fade, casting a bearish tinge over what nevertheless remains a largely optimistic picture. In the case of Donald Trump, expectations that the US president would act swiftly to push though tax reforms, deregulation and bold infrastructure investments are starting to ebb […]
Friday 08:30 BST What you need to know ● European and Asian stock markets firm after Wall Street rally● Euro holds above $1.07 in cautious trading ahead of French election● Bund yields up 1bp to 0.25 per cent despite political tensions● Global steelmakers shrug off Trump tariff threat● Oil prices gain but gold pulls back——————- Hot topic Investor attention is turning to eurozone assets ahead of Sunday’s […]
