Asian finance has transformed in the past two decades. Just months after FinanceAsia launched in 1996, the region was engulfed by a crisis that toppled governments. Now Asia boasts the world’s largest banks and is leading the fintech revolution. For this, our 20th anniversary issue, we ...
China’s crackdown on money leaving the country is making it harder for mainland companies and individuals to funnel money into Hong Kong IPOs – which is no bad thing. Mainlanders have not always focused on the pricing of IPOs, but rather their broader relationship ...
Anbang’s failed $14.2 billion bid for Starwood Hotels isn’t just a setback for the ambitious insurance company – it may well have knocked the credibility of all aspiring Chinese overseas buyers. The company’s behaviour during its unsolicited pursuit of Starwood ...
China needs an overarching financial regulator to help maintain financial stability as the world’s second-largest economy opens up its capital account to the world. Roller-coaster markets, bungled attempts to prop up prices and mixed policy messages illustrate why one is ...
China’s economic slowdown, $750 billion of capital outflow and a stock market crash have caused China’s neighbours a big headache in 2015. In this month’s Cover Story, FinanceAsia’s scores the region’s finance ministers on their performance over the ...
Unicorns, pre-IPO startups valued above $1 billion, are meant to be rare. Asia now has a herd of them and a cull may be in the offing. Across the region new industries such as fintech, social media and big data are flourishing by supplying services to a burgeoning middle class in super-wired ...
China this month lifted a short-lived ban on initial public offerings. The IPO ban was imposed in July amid a massive state-led effort to prop up the stock market, and scrapping it is an attempt by Beijing to return to the vision of President Xi Jinping for markets to play a decisive role in ...
A slowdown in home construction is a big drag on China’s economy, with GDP growth down to a six-year low of 7%. The government is struggling to arrest the slide. A barrage of stimulus measures this year, including five interest-rate cuts since November and relaxed house-purchasing ...
As China’s leaders survey the devastation in their A-share markets, which at one point lost $3.3 trillion in value, they should not be tempted to prop up prices continuously as this would only increase distortions in the cost of capital and bad investments. Spillover from China’s ...
Xi Jinping is acting as backstop for Chinese mainland stock markets: a dangerous position to take if his long-term aim is to develop the country’s capital markets and eliminate price distortions in the economy. Faced with tumbling stock markets, the government used a plethora of ...
China’s stock markets have scaled new heights in recent months and like a worried parent looking to rein in a wayward teenager, regulators are starting to tinker with the rules. This may be counterproductive. If Beijing is trying to curb wild swings in prices, such as on May 28 when the ...
Japan’s manufacturing giants are accelerating moves overseas in search of more dynamic economies, despite two years of massive government stimulus. Abenomics has had a big impact on asset prices but the real economy has been slower to respond. It’s not for want of trying: since ...