Stuart Gulliver has told the HSBC board he will quit as chief executive next year, making the search for his successor a priority for Mark Tucker, who has decided to leave Asian insurer AIA to become the bank’s chairman. The appointment of Mr Tucker was announced before the Hong Kong market opened on Monday by AIA and HSBC, which first approached the insurer’s president and chief executive last […]
March 13, 2017 by: Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong and Michael Hunter in London Monday 07:15 GMT What you need to know US West Texas Intermediate crude is at $48.33 a barrel, having fallen under $48 for the first time in more than three months. The pound is holding above $1.22 as speculation mounts that the UK government is poised to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon […]
March 13, 2017 by: Lucy Hornby and Archie Zhang in Beijing and Jane Pong in Hong Kong Sceptics about China’s economic statistics have taken a special pleasure in revelations of faked data in the north-eastern province of Liaoning dating at least to 2011. Along with an officially reported contraction in its economy last year, they have given the impression that Liaoning’s economy is unusually troubled. That impression may be […]
LONDON HSBC Holdings Plc is lining up Mark Tucker, currently chief executive of insurer AIA Group Ltd, to be the next chairman of Europe’s biggest bank, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Sunday. Regulators in Hong Kong and London have signaled they will approve the appointment, one of the sources said, paving the way for Tucker to take up the role in the autumn. […]
Video Deadly Explosion in Damascus A double suicide bombing in Damascus killed dozens of people and injured others on Saturday. By REUTERS. Photo by Louai Beshara/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. Watch in Times Video » BEIRUT, Lebanon — A double bombing near Shiite shrines often visited by foreign pilgrims in Damascus, Syria, killed at least 40 people on Saturday, shattering the capital’s efforts to isolate itself from […]
By Alastair Sharp | TORONTO TORONTO Three families who helped shelter former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden in Hong Kong in 2013 after his mass leak of information about surveillance programs have asked Canada for asylum, their lawyer said on Friday. The families – three Sri Lankan adults, a Filipina, and three stateless children – have had long-pending asylum claims in Hong Kong that they […]
A Chinese property developer constructing a huge housing project in southern Malaysia has become the latest corporate victim of Beijing’s crackdown on capital flight. Country Garden has closed showrooms in mainland China for its flagship $100bn Forest City development in response to measures by Chinese regulators that have made it harder for individuals to move money out of the country. A slowing Chinese economy, rising US interest rates […]
Like millions of young readers around the world, Chinese children have grown up with popular titles such as Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox and the Harry Potter series. But Beijing is now introducing new measures to restrict access to foreign books and publications as it opens a new front in its battle to limit outside influence on Chinese society. Regulators have given verbal instructions to publishers to […]
Uber’s crisis PR activities have returned to relative normality in Asia after the U.S. firm ran into fresh issues with government regulators in two countries this week: Hong Kong and Thailand. The ride-sharing giant has been fighting some serious corporate fires in the U.S. lately — around its toxic work culture, connections to a polarizing U.S. President, and its CEO’s attitude to its drivers — but it is back to basics as UberX drivers in the two countries come under […]
Mario Draghi has declared victory against deflation and moved a step towards ending the European Central Bank’s ultra loose monetary policy, sending the euro and German bond yields higher as investors bet on the end of crisis-era stimulus measures. Facing growing pressure from monetary hawks in Germany, the ECB president said the bank decided to change its guidance to investors — omitting a reference to using all […]
SEOUL South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye on Friday, removing her from office over a graft scandal involving big business that has gripped the country for months. Park becomes South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office. A presidential election will be held in 60 days, according to the constitution. “We remove Park Geun-hye from office,” Lee Jung-mi, acting […]
New York and London are locked in a frantic race to be the main international listing venue for Saudi Arabia’s initial public offering of its state oil company, emerging as clear frontrunners in what is set to be the world’s biggest ever flotation. Executives from the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange have held talks with Saudi Aramco, the state group valued at as much […]
Thursday 14:30 GMT Overview The euro is firmer and Bund yields are trundling higher with Treasuries after the European Central Bank stood pat on interest rates and indicated it was not looking to ease policy further. Oil prices tried to rally but have resumed their sell-off, putting energy stocks under pressure and weighing on equity benchmarks. Hot topic (1) After a period when politicians seemed to rule […]
There are efficiency gaps between the startup ecosystems in Singapore and Silicon Valley, which the former can address by introducing simpler and clearer investment terms. Doing so would, in turn, attract more mature startups to their fold and better set up founders for success, according to executives from muru-D’s Singapore outfit. The Telstra-owned accelerator had just completed its second batch of eight startups under the six-month programme, […]
DUBAI // The UAE has cracked the top 20 list of countries with the most billionaires for the first time. The Emirates is home to 21 ultra-rich individuals, giving it a ranking of 19, according to the China-based Hurun Global Rich List 2017. “The world today has 5,000 dollar billionaires, assuming that for every one we have found we have missed at least one,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, […]
By Saikat Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG Asian stocks edged lower on Wednesday after a strong start to the week due to profit-taking as investors lacked conviction to buy risky assets before a U.S. policy meeting next week that may see interest rates rising for the second time in three months. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent in early trade, a […]
March 8, 2017 by: Shawn Donnan and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington ZTE has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges of violating US sanctions on North Korea and Iran and to pay up to $1.2bn in fines, the largest sanctions-busting penalty levied against a Chinese company by Washington. The Chinese telecommunications group also admitted to obstructing a federal investigation as part of a settlement announced on Tuesday […]
Tuesday 02:00 GMT Overview Markets were in wait-and-see mode in Asia trading with investors in Australia awaiting an interest rates decision from the country’s central bank. Hot topic Tokyo’s Topix index was flat, while the Nikkei 225 index was off 0.1 per cent. Nintendo was a bright spot with its shares climbing just over 2 per cent, on track for a third straight day of gains following […]
Bingqing Wei and colleagues are working to build a better lithium-sulfur battery. Credit: Kathy F. Atkinson/University of Delaware Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are the power behind most modern portable electronics, including cell phones, tablets, laptops, fitness trackers, and smart watches. However, their energy density—that is, the amount of energy stored within a given amount of physical space, or mass—will need to be improved for these batteries to see […]
Monday 21:56 GMT Overview Global equities sold off on Monday, encouraging flows into sovereign debt, after Asian markets were rattled by North Korea firing missiles into the Sea of Japan and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate meeting drew nearer. US President Donald Trump’s latest spat with the country’s security services may also be damping the mood somewhat as markets continue to price in a rate rise by […]
As part of the previously previewed “Two Sessions” which started on Sunday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday delivered the annual report on the work of the government in Beijing, summarizing the country’s achievements in the past year, and setting goals for this year. In his policy speech, lasting 97 minutes and 18,600 Chinese characters, Li signaled a course adjustment for the world’s second-largest economy and some […]
China’s banking system has surpassed the eurozone’s to become the world’s largest by assets, a sign both of the country’s increased influence in world finance and its reliance on debt to drive growth since the global financial crisis. While China’s gross domestic product surpassed the EU’s economic bloc in 2011 at market exchange rates, its banking system did not take over the top spot until the end […]
BEIJING The killing of the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader who had been living in the Chinese territory of Macau may be top news around the world, but for some Macanese legislators at China’s parliament it’s more a case of Kim Jong Who? Kim Jong Nam was killed on Feb. 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian police believe he was assaulted by two women who […]
By Michael Martina and Philip Wen | BEIJING BEIJING Defying pressure for a strong increase in defence spending, China said on Saturday its military budget this year would grow about 7 percent, its slowest pace since 2010. Last year, with China’s economy slowing, the defence budget recorded its lowest increase in six years, 7.6 percent, the first single-digit rise since 2010, following a nearly unbroken two-decade run […]
