Lead Stories
Rise of the machines must be monitored, say global finance regulators
Reuters
Replacing bank and insurance workers with machines risks creating a dependency on outside technology companies beyond the reach of regulators, the global Financial Stability Board (FSB) said on Wednesday.
https://goo.gl/a17hv5
The Heavy Metal Battle Between JPMorgan and This Historic Exchange
By Jack Farchy – Bloomberg
LME is planning new fee charging dealers for OTC contracts; JPMorgan is one of the biggest OTC metals traders in London
In its battle to restore its place in the market, the London Metal Exchange is taking aim at one of its largest customers: JPMorgan Chase & Co.
https://goo.gl/nqB6GB
NRI, Microsoft Japan launch financial innovation consortium – focus on AI, deep learning, blockchain
EconoTimes
Japanese think tank Nomura Research Institute (NRI) and Microsoft Japan are joining forces to establish the Financial Digital Innovation Consortium.
https://goo.gl/WsUrDv
Trump’s Southeast Asia strategy an ‘enigma,’ analyst says
By Audrey Morallo – philstar.com
US President Donald Trump’s strategy for Southeast Asia remains a big enigma, according to an analyst, with his decision to skip a key regional summit fueling further questions on Washington’s view of the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
https://goo.gl/2ZJZMd
Exchange News
HKEX to Add Long-dated Contract Months for Futures and Options from 4 December
HKEX
HSI and HSCEI Futures and Options to be enhanced from 4 December; Long-dated contract months to be rolled out for HSI and HSCEI Futures; Additional long-dated contract months to be rolled out for HSI and HSCEI Options
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) announced today (Wednesday) that it will introduce long-dated contract months for its Hang Seng Index (HSI) and Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) Futures and increase the long-dated contract months for its HSI and HSCEI Options, with maturities up to 5.5 years, on Monday, 4 December 2017.
https://goo.gl/kf2Xt6
FinTech News
Singapore looks to fintech for the future of its financial sector
Lea Nonninger – Business Insider
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has published an Industry Transformation Map (ITM) outlining its plan to cement the country’s status as a leading global financial center in Asia.
https://goo.gl/9GX6wd
Regulatory News
Founder of China-Backed Firm Facing Insider Trading Charges
By Giles Turner – Bloomberg
Canyon Bridge’s Benjamin Chow indicted for securities fraud; Company agreed to acquire U.K.’s Imagination Tech in September
The co-founder of the Chinese private equity firm that has agreed to take over the U.K.’s Imagination Technologies Group Plc has been charged with insider trading by U.S. authorities.
https://goo.gl/vBBVub
Investing News
U.S. Investor Tries to Shake Up Sina, a Pillar of China’s Internet
ALEXANDRA STEVENSON – NY Times
The Chinese internet boom has been good to Sina. Maybe, protests one of its American investors, it could have been better.
https://goo.gl/5Z4Cg6
Chinese Investors Buy Most Hong Kong Stocks in 11 Months
Bloomberg News
Chinese investors bought an average 2.4 billion yuan ($360 million) of Hong Kong stocks a day in October via the two exchange links with the mainland, the most for any month since the Shenzhen Connect started on Dec. 5, Bloomberg data and calculations show. Mainland investors piled in as sentiment improved after the Hang Seng Index hit its highest in nearly a decade, according to Linus Yip, chief strategist with First Shanghai Securities. Still, overall gains were muted, with the benchmark Hong Kong gauge adding 2.5 percent in the month.
https://goo.gl/5rFuPw
Japan
Nikkei tops 21-year high on strong corporate earnings
Japan Times
Stocks rebounded steeply on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Wednesday, pushing up the benchmark Nikkei average to the highest closing level in 21 years and four months, with investors taking heart from brisk corporate earnings.
https://goo.gl/roUFKp
Japan regulator aims to deliver new digital ID powered by blockchain
By Justin Lee – Biometricupdate.com
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan, one of the country’s main regulators, is working on an initiative aimed at delivering a new digital ID powered by blockchain technology that will make banking more efficient for Japanese consumers, according to a report by Secure ID.
https://goo.gl/CKfBAu
Abe Stops Short of Saying Whether He’ll Reappoint Kuroda
By Isabel Reynolds and Emi Nobuhiro – Bloomberg
Prime minister praises Kuroda’s push to reach inflation goal; Kuroda is the top contender to lead the Bank of Japan again
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe praised the Bank of Japan’s efforts to reach its inflation target, but stopped short of saying whether he’d reappoint Governor Haruhiko Kuroda to lead the central bank when his term expires next year.
https://goo.gl/e3zzNN
Mainland China
China’s economic input in eastern Europe will bear political fruit; European region once so wary of authoritarian regimes needs to ditch illusions about Middle Kingdom
Dalibor Rohac, American Enterprise Institute – FT
It’s a paradoxical sight: at Prague’s airport, named after Václav Havel, the Czech Republic’s celebrated playwright turned dissident turned president, a large Bank of China poster says “Renminbi: A New Choice. The World Currency.” Nearby, a large Hainan Airlines Airbus is parked. Since September 2015, the airline has operated direct flights to Beijing three times a week.
https://goo.gl/kF74EG
Outcry as latest global publisher bows to China censors; Springer Nature, owner of Palgrave Macmillan and Scientific American, blocks 1,000 articles
Ben Bland in Hong Kong – FT
Springer Nature, the German group that bills itself the world’s largest academic book publisher, has blocked access in China to at least 1,000 articles, making it the latest international company to succumb to intensifying Chinese censorship demands.
https://goo.gl/NcUsmm
China Bond Bears Better Brace for Disappointment; Unlike previous bond selloffs, the latest one doesn’t appear to be driven by concerns about domestic interbank liquidity.
By David Millhouse – Bloomberg
China’s bond market underwent a notable correction in October, with yields on 10-year government bonds rising as high as 3.93 percent from 3.62 percent in late September. Nonetheless, it’s too early to get too bearish.
https://goo.gl/i9R88w
China Bond Turmoil Halts as PBOC Soothes Nerves With Injections
Bloomberg News
Central bank has added 690 billion yuan so far this week; PBOC sending clear signal it wants to calm markets: OCBC
China’s bond market moved on from the rough and tumble of recent days, with futures heading for the biggest two-day advance since May and yields declining for the second day in a row.
https://goo.gl/rsUigC
Hong Kong
This Four-Bedroom Home in Hong Kong Just Sold for $149 Million
By Frederik Balfour – Bloomberg
Four-bedroom villa has pool, garden, elevator and harbor view; Property sold by Wheelock to unknown buyer through tender
A luxury home in Hong Kong’s exclusive Peak neighborhood sold for HK$1.16 billion ($149 million), Wheelock Properties Ltd. said.
https://goo.gl/Qajmnb
Hong Kong gov’t presses ahead with high-value-added aviation services promotion
Xinhua
China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Chief Executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said Wednesday that promoting high-value-added aviation services including aircraft leasing is one of the key areas that the HKSAR government is pressing ahead with.
https://goo.gl/zBbxjC
Li Ka-Shing Sells Hong Kong Tower for $5.2 Billion Record Price
By Frederik Balfour and Emma Dai – Bloomberg
Buyer is a special purpose vehicle incorporated in the BVI; Deposit to be paid in cash, according to CK Asset statement
Li Ka-Shing’s CK Asset Holdings Ltd. has agreed to sell its stake in The Center to C.H.M.T. Peaceful Development Asia Property Ltd for HK$40.2 billion ($5.2 billion), a record for a Hong Kong office tower.
https://goo.gl/mdtNpq
Peer-to-peer insuring and smartphone sales encouraged to help modernise HK’s insurance sector; Regulator willing to fast track new insurance licence applications, as ‘insurtech’ continues to play increasingly crucial role
Enoch Yiu – South China Morning Post
Hong Kong finance and insurance firms are being encouraged by the city’s insurance regulator to use smartphone-based, so called insurtech innovations to carry out quicker customer analysis, which will hopefully mean cheaper premiums for customers.
https://goo.gl/DqFntM
Indonesia
Indonesia tops up Islamic microfinance sector with ten new institutions
Arno Maierbrugger Gulf Times Correspondent Bangkok
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, in its intention to improve the financial inclusion of the large number of unbanked citizens, and to improve the financial ecosystems in communities and to reduce the exposure of small business owners or even entire villages to informal lending structures, is expanding the network of official microfinance institutions across the country.
https://goo.gl/U7DfvQ
Sluggish consumption drags down Indonesian food companies; Rising competition also seen hitting 2018 earnings
ERWIDA MAULIA, Nikkei
The top three Indonesian food producers reported lackluster earnings for the first nine months of the year, which some company executives have blamed on a “challenging” economic situation.
https://goo.gl/4ABJeR
Singapore
Singapore wants a slice of Brexit: A share of London’s financial biz
By Andy Mukherjee – ET
Singapore doesn’t like to leave things to chance, so when there’s a play to be made for a slice of London’s financial business, you can expect the city-state to p
https://goo.gl/8ay3ny
China’s war on smog, risk, taking edge off Asia’s growth sprint
Marius Zaharia – Reuters
Growth in China’s manufacturing output slowed in October, threatening to chill activity across Asia, as tough steps to reduce air pollution forced factories to reduce production and a crackdown on financial risk-taking weighed on smaller firms.
https://goo.gl/KdyJrz
Vietnam
Vietnam to ‘pull down wall which hinders business development’
Vietnamnet
VietNamNet Bridge – Under the Investment Law, there are seven prohibited business fields and 243 conditional business fields. However, according to the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM), it found 4,284 business conditions set by ministries and branches as of August 10, 2017.
https://goo.gl/oq8Cnm
Thailand
Thailand Moves Up in Global Doing Business Ranks
The FINANCIAL
The World Bank Group’s latest Doing Business report ranks Thailand in 26th place among 190 economies in the ease of doing business for small and medium enterprises around the world, up from 48th place when applying the same methodology to last year’s and this year’s data.
https://goo.gl/Ue3JJ9
Taiwan
Taiwan down in World Bank survey
By Crystal Hsu – Taipei Times
The increasing difficulty in getting credit and complicated tax return procedures dragged down Taiwan’s showing this year in the 14th edition of the World Bank’s annual Doing Business survey Taiwan dropped four notches to 15th place in the survey of 190 economies, coming in behind regional trade rivals such as Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong.
https://goo.gl/P5KVZs
South Korea
Luxembourg closes ties with Seoul’s financial hub
Wort.lu
Luxembourg is further developing exchanges in the area of financial services with South Korea.
https://goo.gl/NaAGCE
Philippines
The Philippines is a globalist threat
By John Mangun – Business Mirror
Unless you are blinded by your political views, it is difficult not to notice that there is a negative bias against the Philippines. This is not about conspiracy theories like one that is now circulating that the Marawi siege was a United States Central Intelligence Agency plot to destabilize the government.
https://goo.gl/HY4s8c
Malaysia
Tony Pua slams ‘stupidest reply’ by finance minister on 1MDB
FMT Reporters
Tony Pua ridiculed the answer given by the finance ministry over a question on investment “units” owned Brazen Sky Limited, a subsidiary of state-owned investment fund 1MDB.
https://goo.gl/1vagWq
Singapore bans 2 more over 1MDB-related breaches
Bloomberg
Singapore has banned two more individuals over breaches related to 1MDB, as the city seeks to burnish its image from the scandal.
https://goo.gl/XPbXkF
India
Shell and FMO to finance impact projects in Africa and India
GTReview.com
The Shell Foundation and the Dutch development bank FMO have committed to work together to increase funds for impact finance in the energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and India.
https://goo.gl/qosN6p
Indian economy is making tremendous progress, says Indra Nooyi
Financial Express
Indian economy is making “tremendous” progress and is adapting to the demands of life in the 21st century, Indian-American Pepsico chairman Indra Nooyi said today.
https://goo.gl/MHuqKK
Reality dawns on India’s solar ambitions; The country has one of the world’s biggest solar sectors, but now faces the risk of a bubble
Kiran Stacey in New Delhi – FT
The bidding for the contract to build a huge solar farm in the north of India was remarkable for a number of reasons. Nearly two dozen developers took part, indicating the extent of the competition. The auction, in May, lasted a gruelling 30 hours. And the final result left some in the industry open-mouthed.
https://goo.gl/jBWWTr
Australia
Alipay to seize on surge in Chinese tourists
GLENDA KORPORAAL – The Australian
Chinese mobile payment giant Alipay is planning to step up its fledgling Australian business to capitalise on the growing number of Chinese tourists coming here.
https://goo.gl/qVUqqs
The 3 Cs of financial regulation
CHIRAG AGARWAL – TodayOnline.com
10 years ago at a seminar with international financial officials, Timothy Geithner, who was then President of the New York Federal Reserve, referred to the financial crisis that had just hit the United States in past tense, wrongly assuming that the worst was over.
https://goo.gl/dXwraV
Big boost for cyber security
by Mark Eggleton – AFR
Australia’s need to develop a strong homegrown cyber security sector received a shot in the arm in September when the Federal Government undertook to fund a Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CyberCRC) with up to $50 million.
https://goo.gl/Neu7qy
The post Asia Pacific Financial News from John Lothian News – November 1, 2017 appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).