Lead Stories
How Energy-Rich Australia Ended Up With World’s Priciest Power
By Perry Williams – Bloomberg
Australia faces price spikes, blackouts as coal plants close; Industry demanding investment certainty amid policy paralysis
A bungled transition from coal to clean energy has left resource-rich Australia with an unwanted crown: the highest power prices in the world.
https://goo.gl/88YPo4
A Commodity Superpower Asks What If India Turns Out Like China?
Bloomberg News
Australia crunches numbers on raw materials outlook for India; The scale of urbanization ‘has few parallels in history’
India has the potential to boost consumption of everything from copper to iron ore as its economy expands over the next two decades and more people flock to its cities, according to projections from the Australian government that try to fathom whether the country will emulate China.
https://goo.gl/MSnBJX
Is Mauritius big enough for China and India?; Relations with Asian giants are central to development plans
Joseph Cotterill – FT
Border flare-ups in the Himalayas between India and China have long been a feature of international politics, yet, curiously, the two countries now find themselves rubbing shoulders in the less hostile terrain of distant Mauritius. Is the tiny Indian Ocean island big enough for both Asian giants?
https://goo.gl/ftorxR
Ireland battles with EU rivals for Asia Brexit bonus; Low tax rate seen as a draw for financial services and other businesses
SIMON ROUGHNEEN – Nikkei
Ahead of the U.K. exit from the European Union in March 2019, several Asian financial institutions have already set up hubs in other cities within the bloc to ensure continued access to the continent.
https://goo.gl/AJ6wKb
Nusli Wadia richest newcomer on Forbes India Rich List
Financial Express
Cookies-and-airline tycoon Nusli Wadia is the wealthiest newcomer with a net worth of $5.6 billion at the 25th position on the Forbes’ richest Indians list that was topped by Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani for the 10th straight year.
https://goo.gl/TLfDFU
Exchange News
ASX Monthly Activity Report – September 2017
ASX
https://goo.gl/by7MVW
FinTech News
China & America Are Gearing Up For A Showdown Of Tech Titans In Southeast Asia
Vinnie Lauria- Forbes
Forty years ago, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman squared off in a historic boxing match dubbed the world over as “The Rumble in the Jungle,” pitting two of the greatest heavyweight boxers in a fight that defined the sport for a generation.
https://goo.gl/XuR2hA
Is China becoming the world’s fintech capital?
By Heidi Vella – Tech Wire Asia
CHINESE fintech investment is robust – topping US$6.4 billion last year – according to a new report by management consulting firm Oliver Wyman titled ‘Fintech in China’.
https://goo.gl/69Htik
Investing News
Wealth in India: This is where average household in country holds its riches
Financial Express
The average Indian household holds 84% of its wealth in real estate and other physical goods, 11% in gold and the residual 5% in financial assets.
https://goo.gl/91Emim
Japan
Bitcoin could see new rule-maker: Japan’s finance industry; The country’s online brokerages also want to get into cryptomining
YUKO NOMURA, Nikkei
Some of the middlemen that cryptocurrencies were designed to cut out are getting into the virtual mining business, anyway.
https://goo.gl/bmgT2X
Veteran lawmaker Shizuka Kamei announces he will retire from politics
JapanTimes
Former Japanese Financial Services Minister Shizuka Kamei on Thursday announced his decision to retire from politics.
https://goo.gl/MeczNo
Mainland China
China is CONTROLLING EU: Shock warning China using financial clout to influence Brussels; CHINA is using its financial clout to influence decisions made in the European Union, critics of the country have warned.
SIMON OSBORNE
Proposals to make life more difficult for Chinese investors to muscle in were watered down by eurocrats leaving big hitters from the east free to snap up Europoean companies in strategic sectors.
https://goo.gl/TwkXF8
Chinese Media Calls for “Zero Tolerance” on Crimes Involving Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin.com Wallet
Samuel Haig – Bitcoin.com
Xinhua News Agency reporter Pan Ye has published an editorial piece calling for regulators to take a “zero tolerance” approach to crimes involving or facilitated by cryptocurrencies. Despite the article’s firm tone, a list of regulatory recommendations is made in the piece, including “licensing” and other provisions indicative of a permissive regulatory apparatus.
https://goo.gl/chh6eb
Indonesia
Indonesia lists first ever start-up IPO
Barclay Ballard – World Finance
Kioson Komersial has become the first start-up to file for an IPO on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, with more domestic tech firms eyeing alternative funding methods
https://goo.gl/mgFPbf
Indonesia’s giant copper nationalisation may be good news for Rio Tinto
by Matthew Stevens – AFR
For the best part of a quarter of a century Rio Tinto has struggled to extract any sort of return from its still accumulating $US2 billion investment in the routinely controversial Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia.
https://goo.gl/Wd4jmS
Singapore
MAS may surprise financial markets by tightening its policy stance this month: Pimco
TodayOnline.com
There’s a chance the Monetary Authority of Singapore may surprise financial markets by tightening its policy stance this month, according to Pacific Investment Management Co, a move that could make it among the first central banks in Asia to do so.
https://goo.gl/fDmVks
StanChart faces probes in Guernsey, Singapore over $1.4bn in client transfers
Martin Arnold – FT
Standard Chartered is being investigated by regulators in Guernsey and Singapore over a $1.4bn transfer of funds between the two countries on behalf of Indonesian clients at its private bank.
https://goo.gl/rmYL8W
Singapore, Thailand discuss e-payment alliance for digital push
Business Times
Singapore and Thailand are in discussions about connecting their national digital payment systems to forge an unprecedented regional alliance, as officials step up efforts to curb the use of cash.
https://goo.gl/vhcCVw
Singapore govt official on cryptocurrencies: “MAS cannot regulate all products that people put their money in”
Finance Feeds
MAS explained that it does not regulate virtual currencies per se but, as most jurisdictions, it regulates the activities that surround them if those activities fall within MAS’s more general ambit as financial regulator.
https://goo.gl/4to7UW
Vietnam
Vietnamese bond market needs enlarging
Viet Nam News
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has approved a roadmap for bond market development in the next three years, with a vision to 2030, under which the ratio of outstanding bonds to Gross Domesrtic Product (GDP) is expected to be 45 per cent of in 2020 and 65 per cent in 2030.
https://goo.gl/R5WGht
UOB launches Business Banking service for SMEs
Viet Nam News
Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) has launched a Business Banking service dedicated to help small businesses in Việt Nam grow their business.
https://goo.gl/jRXBnW
Thailand
Thailand tops the list of deadly destinations for Australian travellers
Liam Cochrane – ABC.net.au
Thailand also topped number of hospitalisations, missing persons reports
DFAT warns there is no legal right to consular assistance
https://goo.gl/rYGqxw
Thousands queue to pay last respects to Thailand’s late King Bhumibol
Channel News Asia
Almost 12 million people, or almost one sixth of Thailand’s population, have visited the glittering Grand Palace in Bangkok to pay their respects to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej since he died last October, the palace said on Thursday (Oct 5).
https://goo.gl/PAVBNT
Thailand To Provide Humanitarian Aid To Myanmar, Bangladesh
Malaysiandigest.com
Thailand is contributing five million baht (US$149,902) in financial aid to Myanmar and Bangladesh respectively to assist both governments in support of the people affected by violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, which has caused Rohingya civilians to flee to Bangladesh, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.
https://goo.gl/JsEjGY
Taiwan
Taiwan:FSC chief says international bond risks to be studied
Asia Insurance Review
Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission chairman Wellington Koo has said that the regulator has no intention of freezing insurers’ investments in international bonds. Instead, he called for research and discussions on the risk surrounding investments in such bonds.
https://goo.gl/DDzdLF
South Korea
South Korea web-only banks thrive as traditional lenders struggle; Surge in new online accounts forces big institutions to cut fees and rethink services
Song Jung-a in Seoul – FT
As the international banks shutter their branch operations in South Korea, two domestic online-only institutions are signing up new customers by the millions.
https://goo.gl/APyPr1
Philippines
Japan adding yen to standby lending facility for Philippines; Measure would provide liquidity support for trade settlement in times of financial turmoil
Nikkei
Japan will lend yen to the Philippines in addition to dollars in the event of a financial crisis under a new currency agreement, a move meant to buffer bilateral trade from the vagaries of U.S. monetary policy.
https://goo.gl/GwBmjy
Malaysia
SC promotes financial literacy for World Investor Week
The Star Online
Securities Commission Malaysia is taking to Facebook and video to raise awareness on financial planning and how to avoid illegal financial schemes.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/10/05/sc-promotes-financial-literacy-for-world-investor-week/#rG8dkMD3f28ul5Ev.99
https://goo.gl/ziUKAp
India
India’s economic slowdown an aberration, says World Bank
Financial Express
The recent slowdown in India’s economic growth is an “aberration” mainly due to the temporary disruptions in preparation for the GST, the World Bank said today, pointing out that it will get corrected in the coming months.
https://goo.gl/4AdNWR
Infosys battles to fix problems with new Indian tax system; Reputational risk for IT company if major project for landmark sales tax goes badly
Kiran Stacey in New Delhi – FT
Software and systems engineers have fixed just a quarter of the problems with India’s new goods tax service, as pressure builds on Infosys, the tech company in charge of building the country’s most ambitious IT project.
https://goo.gl/CQUeT9
Post Doklam, first China travel warning for tourists to India
Financial Express
China has issued a travel advisory to its nationals visiting India, the first such warning after the Doklam standoff, warning them about denial of visas to visit “restricted areas” like the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
https://goo.gl/Miaayd
Hyundai to bring captive financing arm in India; Hyundai Capital may enter domestic market next year
Ajay Modi – Business Standard
Korean automobile major Hyundai, the second-biggest carmaker in the country, is planning to bring its captive finance arm, Hyundai Capital, to India. It is learnt that the entry might happen in 2018 calendar year, before Hyundai’s another brand, Kia, begins sales in the market.
https://goo.gl/6aKVk4
Australia
World markets leave Australia behind in land of shrinking equity
Adam Haigh – Sydney Morning Herald
Australia’s economy has grown faster than its developed-world peers over the past decade, uniquely avoiding a recession. That means its sharemarket has grown handsomely too, right?
https://goo.gl/qwKf6i
Financial Services Ombudsman complaints surge driven by insurance and credit card disputes
Stephen Letts – ABC.net.au
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has experienced a sharp increase in disputes over the quality of advice and service customers are receiving.
https://goo.gl/X3nLtX
Money launderers remain ahead of authorities by using ‘sophisticated methods’, US expert says
ABC.net.au
Money launderers are using more sophisticated methods to remain one step ahead of law enforcement, says one expert — so how do countries stop them?
https://goo.gl/r6aaRn
The post Asia Pacific Financial News from John Lothian News – October 5, 2017 appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).