Asia Pacific

Indonesia is one of the world’s brighter prospects right now: growth, demographics, infrastructure momentum, inflation under control, more equity raised in the first quarter in Jakarta than New York. Banks are positioning to benefit – while keeping an eye on next year’s elections.

If Olam Agri’s planned dual-listing IPO goes ahead in June it will have a bit of everything: a Singapore-Saudi listing, geopolitics and sovereign funds jostling to defend their nations against strain in global food security.

A curious disruptive technology group proudly announced an investment by Temasek. The problem: it wasn’t true.

How on earth, in this environment, did the bank deliver one of its best-ever quarters in Asia?

The French bank joins HSBC, DBS and others in setting up a full-service wealth management offering in the stable southeast Asian country, with all transactions booked in nearby Singapore.

Tech-related bank deals can still get away, but investors call the shots now.

The chair of Ping An Asset Management has called again for the break-up of HSBC and spin off of its Asia assets. His argument is a strong and valid one; his problem is that none of the bank’s other main shareholders seems to care.

Australian banks adore residential mortgages. But they are ignoring a cohort of people who are going to run into a lot of trouble with repayments.

Mixed messaging from India’s Securities and Exchange Board.

The two bank’s investment banking franchises look enticingly well-matched. But how much business and how many bankers will still be around after the merger?

With the advent of its strategic alliance with Japan’s Mizuho Financial, Lombard Odier now has wealth management tie-ups in seven Asia countries, with the promise of more to come.

Twinco Capital facilitates access to sustainable funding by focusing on pre-production finance.

Private banks that fled India in the 2010s are returning in force. Those that never left are frantically hiring. With a fast-growing economy creating a lot of new wealth across every sector, India is once again the toast of wealth managers.

Pakistan has been trying to improve financial inclusion for the last 20 years with little success. Are new digital licences the answer?

It has been over a decade and a half since a Chinese financial institution bought or invested in a Western counterpart. Beijing sees the West’s banking system as incomprehensibly chaotic and messy, and its own – albeit flawed – as a bastion of stability.

Hong Kong conference moves along. Nothing to see here.

Inflation has returned to the country for the first time in 30 years. As it does so, there is a new face at the helm of the Bank of Japan. What does it mean for the megabanks?

Don’t expect a flood of IPOs, but there are still placements across Asia Pacific.

From small beginnings as the offshoot of a British merchant bank in 1969, Macquarie has become the world’s largest infrastructure asset manager, a powerful investment bank, a global commodities player and several other things besides. It has built all of this through a distinct culture built on risk management, individual empowerment and a capacity for constant reinvention – but it hasn’t always been popular along the way. A new book by Euromoney’s senior editor in Asia Chris Wright and Joyce Moullakis examines the journey.

The whereabouts of investment banker Bao Fan are unknown just when China wants to attract foreign talent and capital, not deter it.

A day-by-day account of Adani’s stunning collapse in value.

A two-week period saw Adani Group attacked by a short seller, abandon a $2.5 billion share offer and lose $100 billion in market value. What next? And what does it mean for Modi’s India?

The desire among political and financial leaders in Beijing to climb the value chain in development finance is clear. But the challenges now facing a giant Chinese state-run infrastructure contractor at Nigeria’s new deep-water port in Lekki show that this is easier said than done.

Yet another multi-billion-dollar loss on investments in SoftBank’s Vision Funds speaks to a malaise that is hurting the tech teams of investment banks in Asia.

A report by a US short-seller hammered the stock of India’s Adani Group companies just as one of them tried to raise $2.5 billion in a follow-on. It was not just Adani under attack here, but Modi’s vision of corporate India.

While big US banks edge slowly towards exchange-like trading of loans, a group of market veterans have tested a system in Asia and will soon launch in Europe.

Last year, a connected cluster of village banks in the central province of Henan suffered one of China’s worst financial scandals in years. Beijing’s reaction: to create a new state bank that will take stakes in rural financial and credit institutions with the aim of spotting and weeding out corruption and improving financial governance.

The southern Chinese city has set out ambitious plans to become one of the world’s top wealth-management centres. With one of China’s largest onshore pools of private wealth, there is everything to play for.

Can the early volumes be sustained through the year?

Initial public offerings by Chinese firms are Hong Kong’s lifeblood, yet they were rarer than hen’s teeth in 2022. For deal flow to return, China must open up. Buckle up: things could get bumpy.