Asia Pacific

Two new platforms show how India is building on top of its digital foundations.

China is having a shocker of a year. Growth has stalled, deflation is back and global firms are moving production elsewhere as they de-risk from China to boost supply-chain resiliency. FDI is down sharply and exports are sinking. Just as Brexit reshaped the UK’s relationship with the world, has Covid done the same for China?

Outbound Chinese M&A deal-flow has slowed to a crawl even as inbound activity remains steady. So focus in the region is moving elsewhere: to rising India, steady-and-lucrative Australia and even Japan, where once-bloated conglomerates are streamlining portfolios under intense pressure from activist shareholders.

Despite its roots in the region, HSBC’s Asian woes have sometimes seemed endemic. It has been overly dependent on Hong Kong and too often caught in Sino-US crosshairs. But under regional co-CEOs Surendra Rosha and David Liao, the lender has regained its confidence, is more regionally diverse than ever, and is busy posting record profits.

It is no surprise to find the ACCC blocking ANZ’s takeover of Suncorp. It is eye-catching, though, to see the regulator naming a deal it would prefer to see happen.

Thirty percent of Singapore sovereign fund’s portfolio is in private equity or real estate. Surely this is as good as it gets for private markets.

Credit growth is a key driver of stellar earnings from India’s banks as the country completes its recovery from Covid-19, but another driver is digital traction.

Analysts are looking beyond China for clues as to where the main Asian currencies will go over the remainder of 2023 as they try to second-guess Japan’s monetary policy plans.

Temasek, as an equity-only sovereign wealth vehicle, had a bad year. A close look at its portfolio positioning helps us understand what it is doing about it.

For the first time in its 62-year history, the Reserve Bank of Australia has appointed a woman as governor.

When Credit Suisse is taken over by UBS, it’s likely that the new parent’s appetite for structured private credit will be significantly different to that of the institution it is absorbing. Two banks in particular are waiting for the opportunity that follows.

Issuance has barely stopped in Indonesia’s IPO market this year. Global investors have bought into the resource-led story with glee – and there are plenty of deals in the pipeline.

Japan is the first major market to put a regulatory environment around stablecoins into law.

Kevin Lam is to lead the Malaysian bank, becoming the second person within three years to step down as UOB’s TMRW digital head.

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.