Asia Pacific

China’s property sector is in freefall and Covid lockdowns are throttling growth as bad loans pile up at the banks. As president Xi Jinping prepares for an unprecedented third term, a deluge of crises threatens to destroy the country's four-decade economic miracle.

As European and Chinese banks scale back in Africa to cut costs and redeploy capital to core markets, Middle East lenders are happily jumping in to fill the gap, buying assets and putting more boots on the ground as bilateral trade between the regions increases.

The recent multi-decade lows experienced by the pound and the yen may have different origins, but they are also a reminder that history has a habit of repeating itself.

China has in the past felt compelled to accept the terms of IMF programmes in struggling nations without due consideration of its own views.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative is as controversial now as it was a decade ago. Yet its legacy endures. Even as Beijing cuts funding to debt-saddled BRI states, the West is emulating Xi Jinping’s flagship development plan. The BRI is not dead but is quietly mutating into something much bigger and – whisper it quietly – perhaps better.

In previous years, the outflow of foreign portfolio investment that characterized the first seven months of the year in India would have caused a market collapse. This time, it didn’t. The difference: Indian retail finding its voice.

Where once Indian companies went overseas to seek technology, brand and scale, today – thanks to the strength and ambition of private capital – better opportunities can be found at home.

India’s refusal to take a side over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is typical of a geopolitical approach that aims to keep everyone onside – to India’s advantage. Doing so helps the country to keep inflation in check, the one threat to an exceptionally powerful domestic story that is enticing the banking sector.

The Singaporean bank has launched sector-specific decarbonization commitments it says are industry-leading. For them to be achieved, the bank’s corporate client base is going to need to make changes, too.

Chinese investors are buying bonds issued by local government financing vehicles as fast as they’re printed – due to a cratered property sector, a lack of other buying options and a perception it’s a safe asset class. But analysts warn LGFV defaults are imminent and could result in a wave of credit events.

China’s decision to let US regulators audit its New York-listed corporates is a shock. It’s a U-turn, a climbdown and a sign, more than anything, of China’s enduring financial frailty.

Rakuten’s adventures in mobile have given the Japanese e-commerce group a rabid thirst for capital. So much so that it is prepared to list the group’s digital bank at the worst possible time.

Europe and the US remain the focus, but LatAm and Asia Pacific will also contribute to volatility in 2022.

Logging only a 1.2% decline over the past year is good going for Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, testament to a policy to build an inflation-ready portfolio relying heavily on private markets.

A new platform aims to help get troublesome sustainable infrastructure projects financed. Its chief executive explains to Euromoney the ambitions and challenges ahead.

There was a touch of edginess in the launch events for two Singapore digital banks, Trust Bank and GSX, on consecutive days this week.

The launch of new digital banks backed by Standard Chartered, FairPrice, Grab and Singtel comes at an interesting time. Both emerge into a very different world than the one in which they applied for licences. Success will rest upon exploiting the ecosystems of their founders.

The strength of the Australian economy is not enough to convince analysts it is a good time to increase AUD exposure.

There is reason for optimism in Thailand’s recovery from Covid. But comments from the country’s central bank governor and finance minister underscore one of the central challenges for officials in countries like this: that so much is out of their hands.

HSBC’s interim result shows that banks are drawing a line under pandemic-related provisions, while simultaneously setting aside new ones for the disease’s economic cure. All banks must make this transition, but HSBC has other things to worry about besides: a campaign from China’s Ping An to split the bank in half.

Laos faces bankruptcy, but like another crisis-ridden Asian state, Sri Lanka, its future is not in its own hands. That role is played by China, whose aggressive lending has helped to take one country to the brink of default and the other well past it.

The merger, if it gets through the competition regulators, underlines the fact that nothing matters more in Australian banking than mortgages.

China’s support for Russia is part of its strategy to reduce the world’s dependence on the greenback – might it work?

At first glance, Temasek’s long-standing ardour for China seems to be fading. Its mainland holdings have had a shocker of a year, but the Singapore fund is buying.

Xi Jinping wants a smooth path to his re-appointment as president in November. But his zero-Covid policy, slowing growth and bank runs in central China mean that path is looking increasingly bumpy.

The top ranks of Philippine finance are shuffling after the election of Bongbong Marcos as president. Felipe Medalla takes the reins at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, where he faces a challenge in fostering economic recovery while keeping inflation from getting out of hand.

BRI’s digital banking unit is using a vast agent ecosystem to distribute its products to Indonesia’s gig economy.

A record-breaking syndicated financing for one of Vietnam’s most interesting banks tells us much about investor sentiment towards the borrower and the country.

The blockchain-based cross-border payments platform will operate across 15 countries.

By hiring two private bankers from outside the industry to power its Asia family-office business, Citi offers further proof that its peers should take its ambitious regional wealth management plans seriously.