ASIA: Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC reported steady returns for the year but warned of “deep uncertainties” as investors face concerns over inflation, pandemic risks and geopolitical challenges. The fund’s portfolio posted an annualized nominal dollar return of 7% over the 20-year period ending March 31, 2022, GIC said in its annual report released on […]

When the Allies crossed the border to invade Germany as WWII came to an end, the German population hung white sheets from the windows to signify their surrender. Just a few years before, the German people were told to celebrate the prospect of dominating Europe as retribution for the punishment they endured because of the […]

ASIA: Ant Group executives are no longer part of Alibaba Partnership, a body that can nominate the majority of the e-commerce giant’s board, Alibaba’s annual report released on Tuesday showed. as both companies parted ways after China’s sweeping regulatory crackdown. The terms now allow only Alibaba employees to be part of the partnership. Seven Ant […]

ASIA: China’s new household deposits grew more than a third year on year to a record USD 1.5tn in the first half of 2022, while individual bank borrowings plunged more than half over the same period, official data showed. The inversion in savings rates followed an increase in bank deposits as Chinese savers raced to […]

ASIA: Industry body FICCI on Thursday said India’s economy is estimated to grow 7% in the current fiscal, lower than the earlier projection of 7.4%, mainly due to the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties. FICCI’s Economic Outlook Survey (July 2022) also said the policy rate of the Reserve Bank of India is expected to touch 5.65% by the […]

ASIA: Asian Development Bank (ADD) in its “E-Mobility Options for ADB Developing Member Countries,” which both forecast and recommended the quick shift to electric vehicles in the region to stem both climate change issues and the rising cost of fuel. The report noted how in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) focused on EV production […]

ASIA: Chinese authorities on Sunday violently dispersed a peaceful protest by hundreds of depositors, who sought in vain to demand their life savings back from banks that have run into a deepening cash crisis. Since April, four rural banks in China’s central Henan province have frozen millions of dollars’ worth of deposits, threatening the livelihoods […]

ASIA: China’s banks have detailed 2.11 billion yuan ($312 million) of loans at risk to the increasing number of homebuyers refusing to pay mortgages on unfinished homes, as fears grow over a potential spillover into the wider financial sector. State-owned Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. said Thursday it held 660 million yuan of overdue loans […]

ASIA: Overseas investors disposed of a combined net total of $5.08 billion in Indonesian, Thai, Malaysian, South Korean, and Indian bonds last month, marking the biggest monthly outflow since March, regulatory data and bond market associations showed. The emerging Asia bonds were hit by a surge in U.S. yields and a jump in the U.S. […]

  ASIA: China will fare the worst if spiking inflation, slowing growth, and rising interest rates lead to stagflation, according to the results of a stress test of 20,000 companies conducted by credit rating agency, S&P Global Ratings. The company said over 90% of its sample was made up of unrated companies with debt totaling […]