United States

UOB’s acquisition of Citi’s consumer assets in four southeast Asia markets strengthens its status in one of the world’s fastest growing regions. The Singapore lender’s CEO Wee Ee Cheong talks to Euromoney about why this matters and what comes next.

While the world’s biggest markets are still preparing for T+1 settlement, talk is growing of the next step – but going any faster would mean a total reworking of how markets function.

It is not hard to find short-term worries over global markets’ state of readiness for the US’s transition to one-day settlement in late May. But even if the UK, Europe and those Asian markets still using two-day settlement can adapt to the shift in the longer term, they will also face intense pressure to lessen their dislocation from the US cycle by copying its move. Many also fear the ultimate end-game of same-day or even instant settlement.

Beneath the Great Game geopolitics of US-Vietnam relations, there are some intriguing possibilities in the detail.

The enormous re-listing of Arm Holdings is unrepresentative in many ways, but it still contains a valuable lesson for those coming down the pipe.

China’s decision to clamp down on Ant Group has derailed an IPO of at least $34 billion, despite execution being finished last week. The move appears to be little more than political muscle-flexing by Beijing. The real winners will be the country’s critics.

Top-rated strategists – as ranked by the Asiamoney Brokers Poll – see opportunities for smaller Asian economies to lure manufacturers away from China during the latest dispute.

The link appears to be finally taking shape, but with the dollar as its biggest trading and settlement currency, the scheme looks increasingly skewed towards investors in the US.