A toast to 1000 issues of IFR Asia
IFR Asia’s editor forewarned me last week that this would be the 1000th edition of the publication and I naturally volunteered to write something that would hopefully chime with this auspicious landmark. So here goes.
Single-market fantasies in South-East Asia
I find it rather peculiar that the ASEAN Economic Community, which envisages a European Union-style single market in Asia, was launched officially in late 2015.
ICBC looks to future challenges
The head of China’s largest bank sees credit risks, interest rate liberalisation and fintech as the biggest challenges for the country’s banking sector.
Fits and starts for fintech
I gave fintech something of a mauling in this column a year ago, or at least in its application to the bond markets. I wrote that it was unlikely to supplant the old fashioned face-to-face or voice-to-voice modus operandi which continues to prevail in the primary markets and a large swathe of the secondary market.
Perpetually wrong? One hopes not
If it looks like a bubble, feels like a bubble… okay, you know how that one goes. These days, I can’t help feeling that this may be an apt metaphor for foreign currency bonds issued in Taiwan’s Formosa bond market. But maybe I’m just too early.
ESG lessons for Trump
Barely a week goes by that the global ESG community doesn’t have something tangible to crow about. Even when the news is apparently negative, such as the withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, no matter: ESG wonks can at least claim the moral high ground as they throw their arms in the air at President Trump’s crassness.
Private Asian infrastructure funding? Forget it!
Chatter around Asia’s infrastructure funding gap has reached fever pitch, but I’m tired of the thrust of a discussion that’s shrouded in policy, politics and hope.
Much ado about Moody's
Moody’s one-notch downgrade of China’s long-term credit rating last week came as something of a shock to the market, although it didn’t take a crystal ball to see it coming.
