Asia Pacific

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.

It’s the time of year for feng shui market predictions.

The Greater China CEO represents a loss of seniority, experience and gravitas. And his is not the only exit from the Swiss bank’s Asia operations.

The death of Teh Hong Piow, the founder of Malaysia’s Public Bank, marks the end of a distinguished banking life.

The Australian Securities Exchange took a leap of faith in commissioning Digital Asset to build a blockchain replacement for its clearing and settlement engine five years ago – perhaps too big a leap. Here, Digital Asset’s CEO explains what went wrong and what was learned.

Three years ago, LTS Ventures was tasked with building a simple microfinance platform for Laos’s army of village banks and savings unions. It took off like a rocket, boosting financial inclusion, cutting fraud. Now the firm is eyeing fresh external funding and expansion across southeast Asia.

Maharlika Investments Fund looks like it will be a development vehicle that takes Indonesia for inspiration.

Beijing recently ordered its state banks, including ICBC and Bank of China, to plough $162 billion worth of fresh credit into the country’s troubled property sector. In doing so, they look not proactive but panicky. A negative hit on lenders’ profits is inevitable.

China is stuck. It has spent three years trying to keep Covid at bay, but now irate citizens have spilled onto the streets, questioning the competency of president Xi Jinping, and calling for an end to restrictions – just as transmission rates spike.

China Investment Corporation’s annual reviews are always out of date, but they provide clues to what is happening now.

The purchase of Home Credit’s businesses in the Philippines and Indonesia fits with a trend to seek growth outside Japan.

In a highly unusual step, Singapore’s sovereign wealth vehicle has spelled out how and why it bought into the FTX story.

Saving the planet requires shutting down coal plants while also ensuring the livelihood of the people who depend on them. The ADB has a plan.

HSBC’s outgoing CFO, Ewen Stevenson, has mounted a robust case for the bank’s cost performance in an intriguing call with analysts that also featured an appearance by his replacement, Georges Elhedery. As he prepares to leave the bank, Stevenson defended his legacy by taking on the firm’s arch-critic, Ping An.

Words fail Euromoney at the mighty event.

Last week’s financial summit aimed to show investors Hong Kong is open for business. While well attended, it also served as a reminder of how closed off the financial hub has become and how much of its lustre has been lost.

Market experts fear that continued inflation and poor growth mean that many currencies are vulnerable to the pressure that the UK has seen recently.

As spreads widen for credit, Macquarie is rushing in.

The great and the good of global finance gather in Hong Kong this week for a summit that aims to remind the world of the city’s status as an international financial centre.

Georges Elhedery’s move to the CFO role at HSBC has raised eyebrows among observers seeking to decode it. What does it mean for Elhedery, what happened to incumbent Ewen Stevenson, and what does it say about CEO Noel Quinn?

Liechtenstein royalty target India’s wealthy.

Asia’s central banks have fought hard to protect the value of their currencies this year as the dollar has soared. But each of them has a limit to their appetite for that defence.

China, the US, Australia and Japan are all conducting a curious courtship with Pacific nations, hoping to build trade relationships, climate resilience and security agreements.

Regulators often rely on giving relief when market participants or products fall between different jurisdictions or certification is unavoidably delayed. But one US regulator is getting fed up with having to do the same thing over and over again, and is calling for rules to be fixed instead of being endlessly patched up.

In February, HSBC’s head of global private banking China, Jackie Mau, set out ambitious plans for the mainland. He’s proving as good as his word: the UK lender has opened two new, full-service wealth management offices in Hangzhou and Chengdu, with more to follow in 2023 and 2024.

Kotak Investment Advisors, the special situations arm of Kotak Mahindra, could have $9 billion under management by early next year. It is led by Srini Sriniwasan, who has applied skills learned at Goldman Sachs to develop the business to where it is today.