News related to
Investment

Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 has forged a strengthened alliance with the Japan External Trade Organization aimed at building deeper cross-border innovation, particularly in Web3, AI, spatial intelligence and sustainable tech sectors. Hub71 used its presence at Tokyo’s WebX and the Blockchain Leaders Summit to push forward new collaboration programmes and investment pathways.

At these events, Hub71 spotlighted a number of startups from Abu Dhabi—among them bitgrit, xMap, Aqua Development, Chainsight, Nodeshift, Bit2Me and 1Money—making connections with Japanese investors, corporate entities and ecosystem partners. The showcasing was closely aligned with Japan’s innovation priorities, including governance in blockchain and sustainable water solutions.

Key to the partnership is the launch of the J-StarX Programme, developed jointly by Hub71, JETRO and Elixir Capital, which will host seven Japanese Web3 startups in Abu Dhabi to facilitate scale-ups, market access, and ecosystem integration. Entrepreneurs in this programme will benefit from capital, mentoring, regulatory guidance and networking in the UAE’s tech environment.

Hub71 also assumed title-sponsorship of the Blockchain Leaders Summit in Tokyo, delivering the opening keynote. Executives emphasised the UAE’s position as an enabling region for innovators seeking overseas expansion, and positioned Abu Dhabi as a gateway for startups to penetrate Asia on one side and Middle East markets on the other.

Peter Abou Hachem, Head of Growth and Strategy at Hub71, stated that the collaboration underscores “the value of global connectivity”, and that Japan’s leadership in Web3 and innovation aligns with Hub71’s mission. He noted that through partners like JETRO, both ecosystems can unlock opportunities in market reach, talent exchange and frontier technologies.

Beijing is preparing to roll out limited fiscal and monetary support as China faces weakening growth, dimming export demand and a fragile property sector. Analysts expect modest interest-rate cuts and additional spending, but size and scope will be constrained by a heavy debt burden and local government financing risks.

Official data shows industrial output rose 5.2% year-on-year in August, the slowest since August 2024, while retail sales grew just 3.4%, their weakest since November 2024. Fixed-asset investment across the first eight months of the year is up only 0.5%. Economic indicators like rising unemployment and falling home prices underscore growing domestic stress. Export demand, especially to the United States, has softened sharply.

Finance Minister Lan Fo’an has asserted that China’s debt remains at a “controllable and reasonable level,” while promising further fiscal reform to bolster consumption and investment. Hidden local government debt is being addressed, with over 60% of local government financing vehicles having mitigated their undisclosed obligations. Beijing has issued about 4 trillion yuan in special bonds out of a 6 trillion‐yuan quota allocated under its 2024-2026 framework.

Despite these assurances, fiscal options appear limited. Local governments, heavily dependent on land sales and property development for revenue, are seeing income dwindle amid the property slump. Many of them carry large off-balance-sheet debts, which limit their ability to borrow further without risking financial instability. Analysts warn that fiscal expansion beyond existing special bond quotas could trigger credit risk and undermine monetary policy transmission.

Monetary policy tools are seen as more flexible. The central bank is expected to pursue cuts in policy interest rates and perhaps reduced reserve requirement ratios for banks. Some targeted measures, such as support for housing and subsidised consumer loans, are under discussion. But reliance on monetary easing brings its own challenges—lower rates may offer limited stimulus when private sector demand is weak and households are wary of debt.

The property sector remains a key drag on growth. Unsold homes, delayed or incomplete projects, and tightly controlled borrowing rules for developers all erode confidence and investment. Local governments, deprived of revenue from land sales due to the real-estate slowdown, face pressures both to stabilize the housing market and to reduce their contingent liabilities.

HSBC has opened a dedicated wealth centre in Dubai aimed at serving affluent clients, stepping up efforts to capture a growing share of the UAE’s expanding wealth and asset management sector. It comes as the bank’s Swiss private arm moves to cut ties with over 1,000 wealthy clients from the Middle East under regulatory pressure.

The Dubai centre, housed in HSBC’s flagship Jumeirah branch, will offer Premier and high-net-worth clients access to relationship managers in a specialist space. Dinesh Sharma, HSBC’s head of International Wealth and Premier Banking for Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said the UAE is among HSBC’s top five global markets, and the investment in infrastructure, people, capabilities and marketing over the next three to four years represents its largest in two decades. Singapore is cited as a model for how the UAE could develop into a global wealth hub.

In parallel, HSBC Private Bank has informed more than 1,000 clients in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt and Qatar—many with assets exceeding US$100 million—that it will terminate its relationships with them. The bank is classifying these clients as high risk, following findings by Swiss regulator FINMA that it failed to meet anti-money laundering obligations in past transactions involving politically exposed persons.

HSBC has emphasised its continued commitment to both its Middle East and Swiss wealth business units. Barry O’Byrne, CEO of International Wealth and Premier Banking, maintains that Switzerland remains one of HSBC’s “core wealth hubs.” HSBC is structuring its strategy to grow where it has “a clear competitive advantage.”

The bank notes that personal financial assets in the UAE have surged over the past few years, exceeding US$700 billion, with more than 130,000 millionaires now in the country. Migrants of wealth are drawn by favourable investment policies, tax incentives and regulatory reforms. Regions contributing large shares of incoming wealth include India, other Middle Eastern markets, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and a growing number from the UK, Europe and China.

HSBC’s move to reduce exposure to high-risk clients comes after FINMA’s rulings in 2024, which identified breaches in anti-money laundering duties in connection with transactions involving politically exposed persons between 2002 and 2015. The regulator prohibited HSBC Private Bank from onboarding new relationships with such individuals until its compliance practices were overhauled. The bank is now working under those rules, winding down existing relationships judged to pose compliance risk.

Space42, listed in Abu Dhabi, and Viasat, a US communications company on Nasdaq, have joined forces to launch a new entity called Equatys to deliver Direct-to-Device and mobile satellite services worldwide leveraging 5G standards.

Equatys will combine satellite and terrestrial networks under a 3GPP Non-Terrestrial Network architecture so that standard smartphones and IoT devices can connect even where ground-based networks cannot reach. It will use over 100 MHz of harmonized Mobile Satellite Services spectrum across more than 160 markets. The venture aims to begin commercial service within three years.

The “space tower” model at Equatys is built on shared multi-tenant infrastructure covering both space and ground components. This setup is designed to cut redundant investment, improve spectrum utilisation, and reduce overall capital costs for operators. Licensed terrestrial and satellite operators will be able to tap into this infrastructure for D2D and next-generation MSS offerings.

Space42 was formed in 2024 through a merger combining the operations of Bayanat and Yahsat. Its business units include upstream satellite operations and geospatial analytics/AI-powered smart solutions. Major shareholders include G42, Mubadala, and IHC. Viasat, having acquired Inmarsat in 2023, operates globally in secure satellite communications, for government, enterprise, and consumer markets.

While financial terms of the venture were not disclosed, Equatys is expected to issue equity in phases, opening opportunities for strategic and financial partners as the system scales. The model is pitched as infrastructure-grade, aiming to offer returns tied to long-term deployment and spectrum utilisation rather than short-term hardware sales.

The project is subject to regulatory and customary conditions. It follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed in March 2025 between Space42 and Viasat which moved from exploratory technical and commercial studies to forming a jointly owned infrastructure company.

Experts are watching closely how spectrum harmonisation will be maintained across the many markets Equatys aims to cover. Nation-level telecom regulators often impose latency, licensing or usage constraints on MSS and NTN services, which can complicate global rollout. Also, implementing a shared infrastructure model across multiple orbits of satellites presents technical and operational challenges, from latency and hand-off between orbits, to ground station coordination, spectrum interference and service reliability.

Singapore is witnessing a sharp decline in wealthy mainland Chinese individuals relocating to the city-state, driven by stricter financial regulation, tougher compliance requirements, and more burdensome permanent residence and family-office rules. The flow is shifting instead toward Hong Kong, Japan and the Middle East.

Applications from wealthy Chinese seeking family office status or residency in Singapore have dropped by about 50 per cent compared to 2022, according to legal advisers involved in vetting such clients. One lawyer noted that platforms offering cryptocurrency, tokenised equity or stablecoins must now obtain licensing even when serving clients outside Singapore, and approval will be rare. Minimum capital thresholds have been introduced, along with anti-money laundering, technology-risk and conduct obligations.

The Fujian money-laundering scandal of 2023 is widely cited as a turning point. Following that case, Singapore’s financial institutions and regulators re-screened clients and intensified know-your-customer processes. Some family office applications have taken over a year to process; others have been rejected or delayed because of stricter background checks, including detailed disclosures about dependents and family relationships that many find invasive.

Hong Kong has responded by making entry and residency procedures easier. Earlier this year, its Capital Investment Entrant Scheme was reformed so that applicants need only six months of asset holding instead of two years, and family-held wealth or investments via family companies are now accepted. Dubai and Japan are similarly pulling ahead with more streamlined family office incentives.

Henley & Partners projects that only 1,600 millionaires will move to Singapore in 2025, less than half the number projected in the previous year. Meanwhile, many Chinese family offices already based in Singapore are relocating their operations back to Hong Kong or setting up in the Middle East or Japan.

Regulation focusing on crypto activity has been particularly discouraging. New rules require licensing for platforms offering crypto or tokenised financial products even to clients outside Singapore; approvals are expected to be rare and compliance burdens steep. Some crypto firms have already departed because of the regulatory regime.