China’s Shadow Lenders Turn to Property; Strategic Shift Comes as Default Risk Rises on Older Loans

China’s Shadow Lenders Turn to Property

Strategic Shift Comes as Default Risk Rises on Older Loans

DINNY MCMAHON And ESTHER FUNG

Updated Feb. 13, 2014 6:44 a.m. ET

China’s key shadow-banking institutions have aggressively ramped up funding to the property sector, a marked shift in strategy at a time when lenders face increased risk that older loans they have made won’t be repaid.

According to data issued Thursday by the China Trustee Association, a government-backed industry group, China’s trust companies provided more than 10 times as much new funding to the property sector in the last three months of 2013 as they did a year earlier. The increase came as overall growth in lending by the trust firms came in at 7.7% relative to the previous quarter, well below a quarterly pace that typically exceeds 10%. Read more of this post

China smog makes capital “barely suitable” for life: report

China smog makes capital “barely suitable” for life: report

Thursday, February 13, 2014 – 11:16

Reuters

SHANGHAI – Severe pollution in Beijing has made the Chinese capital “barely suitable” for living, according to an official Chinese report, as the world’s second-largest economy tries to reduce often hazardous levels of smog caused by decades of rapid growth. Read more of this post

EMs are paying the price of ETF liquidity; Volatility inflamed by ability of exchange traded funds to exit quickly; Chances are high of mass exodus from EM; No framework for co-ordinating an orderly reversal of flows

February 12, 2014 10:05 am

EMs are paying the price of ETF liquidity

By John Authers

Volatility inflamed by ability of exchange traded funds to exit quickly

Are exchange traded funds the best way to invest in emerging market equities?

Last week, I wrote a column arguing that the structure of ETFs, which allows trading through the day, had contributed significantly to the scale of the recent sell-off in emerging markets, and was helping to make the sector more volatile. Read more of this post

Accountants PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY face taming moves; Are the Big Four accounting leviathans about to be tamed?

February 12, 2014 6:32 pm

Accountants PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY face taming moves

By Sam Fleming

Are the Big Four accounting leviathans about to be tamed?

Even as their revenues ascend to fresh records, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY are struggling to navigate new legal and regulatory pitfalls in two of their most important markets – China and the European Union.

On Wednesday the four networks’ Chinese affiliates were preparing to appeal a US decision to bar them from working for any US-listed Chinese companies for six months. The spat between the two countries threatened to check progress for the accountancies in one of their fastest-growing regions, as well as souring broader commercial relations between the nations. Read more of this post

Canada Clamps Down on Investor Visas; Ottawa Ends Its Immigrant Investor Program Popular Among Wealthy Chinese

Canada Clamps Down on Investor Visas

Ottawa Ends Its Immigrant Investor Program Popular Among Wealthy Chinese

JASON CHOW in Hong Kong and ALISTAIR MACDONALD in Toronto

Updated Feb. 12, 2014 8:28 p.m. ET

Canada’s cancellation of an immigration program popular with wealthy Chinese is adding to concerns that a country once welcoming of China’s investment and immigrants is now closing the door on both. Read more of this post

U.S. Firms Fret Over China Debt, Investment Rules

Feb 12, 2014

U.S. Firms Fret Over China Debt, Investment Rules

U.S. companies that do business in China are worried about investment rules that limit their growth there, as well as about the repercussions of rising levels of debt in the world’s second-biggest economy, a U.S. business group said Monday. Read more of this post

Income + wealth inequality = More trouble for society

Income + wealth inequality = More trouble for society

Thursday, February 13, 2014 – 09:00

Robin Chan

Assistant Political Editor

The Straits Times

MUCH attention given to inequality in Singapore in recent years has focused on income inequality. There is a good reason: Singapore’s income gap, as measured by the Gini coefficient for income, is one of the widest among developed countries at 0.478. Read more of this post

Vietnam bets on loosening gaming laws to lure high rollers

Vietnam bets on loosening gaming laws to lure high rollers

6:32pm EST

By Nguyen Phuong Linh and Farah Master

HO CHI MINH CITY/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Nguyen Van Tuon seems unconcerned that his business driving Vietnamese gamblers across the border to Cambodian casinos is under threat. Read more of this post

Is trickle-down economics working for Singapore?

Is trickle-down economics working for Singapore?

The annual Budget is an expression of the Government’s commitment to its policies — put simply, the Budget is when the bucks are put into the bangs.

BY DEVADAS KRISHNADAS –

13 FEBRUARY

The annual Budget is an expression of the Government’s commitment to its policies — put simply, the Budget is when the bucks are put into the bangs. Read more of this post

The omnipresent craft: Graft

The omnipresent craft: Graft

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 – 09:00

Nayan Chanda For The Straits Times

The Straits Times

GLOBALISATION has been facing strong headwinds as a result of anti-immigrant and anti-free trade pressures.

Now, a third issue challenging the benefits of global connectedness is taking centre stage in many countries: corruption. Globalisation does not cause corruption. Read more of this post

China to crack down on fake data ‘corruption’: Statistics chief

China to crack down on fake data ‘corruption’: Statistics chief

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 – 17:09

Reuters

BEIJING – China will step up efforts to investigate and punish any cases of falsified statistics, the country’s chief statistician said in remarks published on Wednesday, highlighting the issue of reliability of Chinese data. Read more of this post

DIY publishers break out in Korea

DIY publishers break out in Korea

Wednesday, Feb 12, 2014

Kate Bolster

The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

KOREA – The difficulty of finding a voice in a country that doesn’t speak her language is all too familiar to Doria Garms-Sotelo.

The aspiring journalist, whose husband is in the US Army, has called Korea home for the past nine years. She has used that time to hone her writing skills and complete a book on a topic that is close to her heart. Read more of this post

China think-tanks rising in numbers

China think-tanks rising in numbers

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 – 03:00

Esther Teo

China Correspondent In Beijing

The Straits Times

MR LI Fan was initially worried that a two-day seminar on democracy he was organising in Beijing last December might run into trouble with the authorities due to its sensitive topic. To his surprise, the event ran smoothly. Read more of this post

NYSE Is Still No. 1, But Not By Much; In its 13-year history, ICE has built a sprawling global empire of derivatives exchanges and clearinghouses. It grew through acquisitions, transforming legacy institutions with technology

NYSE Is Still No. 1, But Not By Much

BRADLEY HOPE

Feb. 11, 2014 7:31 p.m. ET

The venerable New York Stock Exchange is hanging by a thread to its place as the country’s top trading venue as measured by volume. Its new head’s response: He doesn’t care.

IntercontinentalExchange ICE +2.06% Chief Executive Jeffrey Sprecher’s attitude toward market share, expressed on an earnings conference call Tuesday, is an early glimpse of the type of big changes expected as he puts his stamp on the iconic Big Board. That comes three months after ICE took over the NYSE’s parent company for more than $8 billion. Read more of this post

Distortions galore make China’s trade data an unhelpful indicator of the broader economy

Stay Away From China’s Trade

ALEX FRANGOS

Feb. 12, 2014 2:37 a.m. ET

Markets were girding for another negative Chinese economic data point. Instead what they got was more distortion.

China reported exports in January unexpectedly jumped 10.6% compared with a year earlier, accelerating from December’s pace. It was a sign that the positive export momentum seen since the middle of last year is continuing. Imports rose a similar amount, indicating that China’s domestic industrial-construction complex is still hungry for raw materials. The Australian dollar, seen as a proxy for Chinese resource demand, predictably rose on the news. Read more of this post

Australia Manufacturers Forced to Look Beyond Big Auto Makers

Australia Manufacturers Forced to Look Beyond Big Auto Makers

RHIANNON HOYLE And ROSS KELLY

Feb. 11, 2014 7:38 a.m. ET

Tony Abbott, then leader of the Australian opposition, sat in the driver’s seat of a locally made Toyota on Aug. 30 in Melbourne, Australia. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Brake-maker Peter O’Connor is remarkably upbeat amid the doom that has descended on Australia’s auto industry after Toyota Motor Corp. 7203.TO +0.43% said it would stop producing cars in the country. Read more of this post

‘Markets will decide’ on ailing firms; Beijing will allow some financial institutions to close or go bankrupt so long as the overall financial situation is under control, a state councillor said.

‘Markets will decide’ on ailing firms
Ling Wang
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Beijing will allow some financial institutions to close or go bankrupt so long as the overall financial situation is under control, a state councillor said.

Speaking at forum in Beijing, Xia Bin said that it is difficult to balance between continuing reform and contain systemic risks that it had brought. He stressed that if poor assets remained in corporations and banks, then the economic system could never be healthy. Read more of this post

Australia Readies More Than $100 Billion in Asset Sales

Australia Readies More Than $100 Billion in Asset Sales

Treasurer Joe Hockey Flags Sale of Transport Networks, Health Insurers, Utilities to Help Plug Budget Shortfall

ROB TAYLOR And DAVID WINNING

Updated Feb. 12, 2014 3:34 a.m. ET

Joe Hockey gestures as he speaks during a presentation in Canberra, Australia, on Dec. 17, 2013.Bloomberg News

CANBERRA, Australia—Australia is readying a plan to sell potentially 130 billion Australian dollars (US$117.49 billion) in assets ranging from health insurers to electricity poles, hoping to set an example to cash-strapped governments around the world that need new funds to boost their economies. Read more of this post

Almost nobody believes China’s new batch of suspiciously awesome trade data

Almost nobody believes China’s new batch of suspiciously awesome trade data

By Lily Kuo @lilkuo 2 hours ago

The good news: Last month’s Chinese trade data is defying signs of a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy. The bad news: the improvement might be completely fraudulent. Read more of this post

Korean university grads face mounting tuition debt

University grads face mounting tuition debt

Feb 12,2014

Even with a nationwide effort from various government agencies to reduce the burden of college students’ tuition fees, young people must still repay an average of 14.5 million won ($13,631) in loans, about 300,000 won higher than last year. Read more of this post

Toyota fires the starter gun on race for survival for car parts suppliers

Caitlin Fitzsimmons Online editor

Toyota fires the starter gun on race for survival for car parts suppliers

Published 11 February 2014 12:49, Updated 12 February 2014 08:53

‘I think Australia needs to focus on what we’re good at, which is niche, high-quality manufacturing,’ says Tomcar founder David Brim. Photo: Luis Ascui

With Toyota joining the car manufacturing exodus, about 150 companies in the automotive supply chain face the ultimate test: diversify their business by 2017 or die trying. Read more of this post

Taipei should be wary of China’s economic twists and turns

Taipei should be wary of China’s economic twists and turns

Editorial

2014-02-10

As the Chinese Year of Horse begins, many anticipate a brighter economic outlook for Taiwan and China for the rest of the year, but official figures on China’s manufacturing and non-manufacturing indexes have shown declines, indicating the country’s economic transformation may have entered a difficult patch. Read more of this post

What’s that sucking sound? It’s all the public money and private wealth being swallowed up by London

What’s that sucking sound? It’s all the public money and private wealth being swallowed up by London

This is no longer north v south: it’s the rest of the country versus a small elite in London

Aditya Chakrabortty

The Guardian, Monday 10 February 2014 20.00 GMT

Last Friday, Westminster showed its love for Scotland by putting up an Old Etonian MP for a safe Tory Oxfordshire seat to speak at the Olympics velodrome, paid for by the British public but gifted to east London. Truly, the Scottish Nationalists could ask for no better recruiting sergeant than David Cameron. Read more of this post

Myanmar’s mobile sector is regarded as one of the world’s last remaining frontiers for companies; mobile penetration in Myanmar estimated at around 11% is the fourth-lowest rate in the world

February 11th 2014

Telecoms take-off

The development of Myanmar’s nascent mobile telecommunications sector is poised to take off. Operating licences have been granted to two international telecoms operators, Norway’s Telenor and Qatar’s Ooredoo, which have committed to invest billions of dollars to provide almost total mobile coverage within five years. But with mobile penetration in Myanmar estimated at around 11%—the fourth-lowest rate in the world—and a lack of requisite infrastructure in large areas of the country, Telenor and Ooredoo have a daunting task ahead of them. Read more of this post

Nestle hints at more deals after deeper healthcare dive

Nestle hints at more deals after deeper healthcare dive

8:19am EST

By Martinne Geller and Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) – Swiss food giant Nestle’s deeper dive into healthcare by taking over the dermatology joint venture it had with L’Oreal suggests further deals in the space are likely.

The move underscores Nestle’s determination to move beyond relatively stagnant traditional food markets into “wellness”, where growth prospects and profit margins are more enticing. Read more of this post

Entrepreneurs Push Back Against Rising LLC Fees

Entrepreneurs Push Back Against Rising LLC Fees

ANGUS LOTEN and RHONDA COLVIN

Updated Feb. 12, 2014 7:48 p.m. ET

Patrick Lewis filed paperwork to incorporate his mobile-app design firm in New York state late last month, paying the state-required $200 fee up front. No problem.

But the 24-year-old software designer faces another hurdle to incorporation. Under state law, he must arrange to print a notice in a local newspaper within four months that announces his firm, Butterscotch Labs LLC, is officially open for business. That will cost an additional $2,000, or about as much as four months’ rent for a typical New York City work space, he says. Read more of this post

China Central Bank Moves to Limit Risk in Interbank Market

China Central Bank Moves to Limit Risk in Interbank Market

LINGLING WEI

Feb. 13, 2014 4:14 a.m. ET

BEIJING—China’s central bank is taking steps to rein in certain bond-trading activities that could amplify risks in one of the world’s fastest-growing debt markets.

A division of the People’s Bank of China on Thursday published new rules effectively banning banks from using the funds raised from the sale of high-yield investment products for proprietary trading, or trading for its own profit, according to a statement posted on the website of the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, the interbank-trading and foreign-exchange division of the central bank. Read more of this post

Delhi chief minister takes on Indian tycoon over gas pricing

Delhi chief minister takes on Indian tycoon over gas pricing

Tue, Feb 11 2014

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Delhi’s new chief minister took his anti-graft campaign to new heights on Tuesday, ordering an investigation into India’s richest man, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, and policymakers over gas pricing.

Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi, or Common Man, Party (AAP) won the Delhi state election in December with promises to fight corruption and to tackle high utility prices. Read more of this post

China shadow-bank product defaults as coal company can’t repay; It Begins… Another High-Yield Chinese Shadow Banking Trust Defaults

China shadow-bank product defaults as coal company can’t repay – paper

Wed, Feb 12 2014

(Corrects spelling of coal firm to Liansheng, not Lianmeng)

* Jilin Trust products worth $126 million have defaulted – paper

* Trust products based on loan to deeply indebted coal company

* Products sold through China Construction Bank

* Jilin Trust working to recover investor funds

SHANGHAI, Feb 12 (Reuters) – A high-yield investment product backed by a loan to a debt-ridden coal company failed to repay investors when it matured last Friday, state media reported on Wednesday, in the latest sign of financial stress in China’s shadow bank sector. Read more of this post