Will China’s Shadow Banking Craze Slow Down?

Will China’s Shadow Banking Craze Slow Down?

A financial crisis occurs when people think something — Greek government bonds, U.S. mortgage-backed securities, Cypriot bank deposits, you get the idea — is safe and are wrong. This means there are two ways governments can try to prevent crises: They can guarantee the nominal value of every asset believed to be “safe,” or they can try to set investors straight. Read more of this post

Steel firms in China’s dirty North get the hammer

Steel firms in China’s dirty North get the hammer

Staff Reporter

2014-01-19

New Wuan Iron and Steel Group, the largest private steel firm in China’s largest steel-producing province, is slimming down its annual capacity to 8 million tons by 2017. The slash, more than 50% of its 2013 output, is indicative of major tremors in the nation’s steel industry, reports the Chinese-language Economic Observer. Read more of this post

Minimum wage raised in 26 provinces, cities in China

Minimum wage raised in 26 provinces, cities in China

Staff Reporter 

2014-01-18

Twenty-six provincial level governments in China have raised the minimum wage for their workers, with an average growth of 18% according to a Jan. 15 report by the Beijing-based Economic Information Daily. Read more of this post

For the “2010 China Credit / Credit Equals Gold #1 Collective Trust Product” bugs out there

For the “2010 China Credit / Credit Equals Gold #1 Collective Trust Product” bugs out there

David Keohane

| Jan 17 07:22 | 4 comments | Share

Part of the UP SHIBOR CREEK… SERIES

Here’s the structure you placed your trust in…

(Chart from Barclays. Do click to beat the image size cap we’ve illiberally imposed on our home page)

As we wrote yesterday, this is the sad story of a trust product gone bad called “2010 China Credit / Credit Equals Gold #1 Collective Trust Product” which ICBC helped to market and which they are now refusing to bail out. It was issued by China Credit Trust Company, the country’s third largest such group by assets, and the funds raised were used to make loans to a coal company that is now facing bankruptcy. Read more of this post

Ex-premier Zhu Rongji named a top philanthropist

Ex-premier Zhu Rongji named a top philanthropist

by An Baijie, China Daily/ANN|18 January 2014

China – Former premier Zhu Rongji has been named as one of the nation’s leading philanthropists for donating 20 million yuan (S$4.2 million) last year to establish a charity foundation to improve education in poverty-stricken regions. Zhu ranked 70th on the list of China’s top 100 donors in 2013, which was released on Thursday by the China Philanthropy Research Institute. Read more of this post

Chinese Millionaires Are Leaving The Country In Droves

Chinese Millionaires Are Leaving The Country In Droves

ROBERT FRANK, CNBC
JAN. 17, 2014, 1:15 PM 17,066 30

Do the wealthy Chinese know something we don’t?

A new report shows that 64 percent of Chinese millionaires have either emigrated or plan to emigrate—taking their spending and fortunes with them. The United States is their favorite destination. Read more of this post

China’s Zhejiang Becomes First Province to Loosen Family-Planning Policy

China’s Zhejiang Becomes First Province to Loosen Family-Planning Policy

Zhejiang First Province to Make Good on Communist Party Pledge to Relax One-Child Rule

JOSH CHIN

Updated Jan. 17, 2014 9:59 a.m. ET

Children play while waiting for their trains at Hangzhou East Railway Station in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang province, on Thursday. ZUMAPRESS.com

BEIJING—Eastern China’s Zhejiang province announced a loosening of its family-planning policy on Friday, becoming the first province to make good on the Communist Party’s pledge to relax the country’s controversial one-child rule. Read more of this post

China’s pollution: The desolation of smog?

China’s pollution: The desolation of smog?

Beijing’s mayor has come up with a series of measures – including banning all heavily polluting vehicles to punishing officials for lax enforcement – to battle air pollution in China’s capital.

By Sui-Lee Wee, Reuters / January 17, 2014

Beijing‘s mayor pledged Thursday to cut coal use by 2.6 million tons and set aside 15 billion yuan (2.4 billion dollars) to improve air quality this year as part of the city’s “all-out effort” to tackle air pollution, according to China‘s state news agency Xinhua. Read more of this post

China Shadow Lender Makes Plans to Recoup Loan

China Shadow Lender Makes Plans to Recoup Loan

LINGLING WEI

Jan. 17, 2014 6:32 a.m. ET

BEIJING—A standoff is brewing in China, as an asset management firm that had used the country’s largest bank as its agent seeks avoid setting a loss-making precedent among shadow lenders in connection with a loan-gone-bad made to a coal miner. Read more of this post

India after Dr Manmohan Singh

India after Dr Manmohan Singh

Saturday, January 18, 2014 – 09:00

The Straits Times

Editorial

As a minister in the 1990s, Dr Manmohan Singh rescued India from a balance-of-payments crisis with structural reforms that liberalised the economy. Indians would be grateful to the self-effacing economist not only for their country’s economic turnaround but also because the reforms drew liberalisation into mainstream political discourse, out from the wild ideological fringes where it had signified selling out the nation to predatory foreign interests. Read more of this post

Reimagining India: Creating partnerships for the future; two CEOs, Stsarbucks’ Howard Schultz and Abbott’s Miles White, from very different industries reflect on how global companies can succeed in India

Reimagining India: Creating partnerships for the future

In short excerpts from Reimagining India, two CEOs from very different industries reflect on how global companies can succeed in India.

January 2014 | byHoward Schultz and Miles White

The power of partnership

Howard Schultz

We hope to have thousands of stores in India. I look forward to a day in the not-too-distant future when India takes its place alongside China as one of our two largest markets outside North America. But we know getting there won’t be easy. And our successful beginning in India has not been without hurdles; on the contrary, it was a complicated six-year journey. Along the way, we learned a lot about India and ourselves. Read more of this post

The tortured saga of Diageo’s attempt to convert India’s “whiskey” drinkers to the real stuff

The tortured saga of Diageo’s attempt to convert India’s “whiskey” drinkers to the real stuff

By Mark Bergen January 17, 2014

Suntory’s $16 billion acquisition of bourbon giant Beam Inc. has focused attention on the huge opportunities for growth in the rapidly consolidating global booze industry: Japanese have acquired a taste for bourbon, China is getting into fine wine, and Indians are increasingly thirsty for whiskey. Read more of this post

How Japan stood up to old age; Twenty-five per cent of Japanese are over 65. But not only do they live longer, they work longer, stay healthier, care for their elderly better – and have found ways to pay for it

January 17, 2014 10:06 am

How Japan stood up to old age

By David Pilling

Twenty-five per cent of Japanese are over 65. But not only do they live longer, they work longer, stay healthier, care for their elderly better – and have found ways to pay for it Read more of this post

Japanese Deals: Shades of ’89? The recent Beam and Sprint acquisitions bring back memories of the Rockefeller Center disaster. Why it’s different this time

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2014

Japanese Deals: Shades of ’89?

By ASSIF SHAMEEN | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

The recent Beam and Sprint acquisitions bring back memories of the Rockefeller Center disaster. Why it’s different this time.

Nearly a quarter century after Mitsubishi Estate‘s ill-fated acquisition of Rockefeller Center and Sony‘s overpriced purchase of Columbia Pictures, the Japanese again are shopping in the U.S. Read more of this post

Keidanren hands torch to unique chief after first pick declines

Keidanren hands torch to unique chief after first pick declines

KYODO

JAN 16, 2014

Unlike his predecessors as head of Keidanren, Toray Industries Inc. Chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara doesn’t belong to the business lobby’s current leadership group of more than a dozen vice chairmen or chief of its Board of Councilors. Read more of this post

6 out of 10 KOSPI equities trade below 1x P/B

6 out of 10 KOSPI equities trade below 1x P/B

Kim Byung-ho, Cho Si-young

2014.01.17 16:49:12

Six out of 10 constituents of the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) saw their market capitalization fall short of the book value as the index has not yet recovered to the 2,000 mark earlier this year. Views are divided over this situation. Some interpret it as a rise in the number of relatively undervalued stocks while others believe it reflects heightened fears over growth. In these circumstances, investors are anguishing over how to pick stocks. 61 percent or 364 out of 597 listed firms on the KOSPI, on which data is available, had a price-to-book value ratio (P/B ratio) of below one time, according to FnGuide that performed the analysis commissioned by the Maeil Business Newspaper Friday. The analysis is based on closing prices on January 16 and net asset values as of end of third quarter of last year. A P/B ratio under one time indicates a company’s market cap is smaller than its liquidation value. This boils down to the fact that six out of 10 listed firms traded below their liquidation value. The financial investment industry recommends hunting for stocks with high return on equity (ROE) and low PBR and low price-to-earnings ratio (PER) as a way to choose shares. “PBR and PER, which compare assets and earnings on financial statements with share prices, are reliable gauges to select cheap shares,” said Choi Chang-ho, head of investment strategy at Shinhan Investment. Among the KOSPI stocks with over 100 billion won ($94.3 million) market cap, Hyosung, SK, Seah Steel and Korean Reinsurance meet all of the criteria of high ROE, low PBR and low PER, according to Daishin Securities.

There Still Is a Way Out of Thailand’s Crisis

There Still Is a Way Out of Thailand’s Crisis

By Vikram Nehru on 2:48 pm January 17, 2014.
Thailand is about to inflict considerable harm to itself. For two months now, tens of thousands have taken to the streets to protest against the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and are now trying to take their protest to a new level by shutting down Bangkok. The army is faced with a difficult choice – permit continued chaos and risk an escalation in violence, or engineer yet another coup (Thailand has had 18 coups since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932). Either path would mean a setback to democracy and a body blow to the economy; neither provides a solution to the political impasse at the heart of the crisis. The tragedy is that the two protagonists in the confrontation – the opposition Democrat Party and the incumbent Pheu Thai party – have dug themselves in too deep to pull back. Ironically, a political solution is possible. But its prospects are remote because it will take reasonableness all around to reach it. Read more of this post

Thai govt sticks to Feb 2 snap election; Oust me by voting, Yingluck urges opponents

Thai govt sticks to Feb 2 snap election

Saturday, January 18, 2014 – 03:00

Nirmal Ghosh

Indochina Bureau Chief In Bangkok

The Straits Times

Thailand’s embattled government will go ahead with a snap election on Feb 2, raising the probability of more aggressive protests by groups intent on derailing it and forcing caretaker premier Yingluck Shinawatra out of office. Read more of this post

Programming may become part of school curriculum in Singapore

Programming may become part of school curriculum

SINGAPORE — School children may soon learn computer programming as part of the school curriculum, include computer coding, which would enable them to develop mobile apps.

BY –

1 HOUR 33 MIN AGO

SINGAPORE — School children may soon learn computer programming as part of the school curriculum, include computer coding, which would enable them to develop mobile apps. Read more of this post

More 24-hour gyms in S’pore; A US-based fitness chain aims to open 100 24-hour gyms in Singapore’s heartland within five years

More 24-hour gyms in S’pore

Rachael Boon, The Straits Times/ANN, Singapore | Business | Thu, January 16 2014, 6:00 PM

A US-based fitness chain aims to open 100 24-hour gyms in Singapore’s heartland within five years. Anytime Fitness, which operates on a franchise model, specialises in what it calls cosy gyms – centres of about 3,500 sq ft, far smaller than “big box” gyms that can be 20,000 sq ft. Read more of this post

Imposing a cap on borrowing across all Singapore moneylenders could drive the business underground to loan sharks

Lending cap ‘could drive borowers to loan sharks’

Saturday, Jan 18, 2014

Hoe Pei Shan

The Straits Times

SINGAPORE- Imposing a cap on borrowing across all moneylenders could drive the business underground to loan sharks, say industry players. Several managers of licensed moneylending outfits told The Straits Times most of their clients have loans from four to six other lenders on average and that a cap could, in theory, help rein in over-borrowing – or send them seeking cash elsewhere. Read more of this post

Are Singapore home prices set for a bruising?

Are Singapore home prices set for a bruising?

By: Leslie Shaffer | Writer for CNBC.com

CNBC.com | Wednesday, 15 Jan 2014 | 6:20 PM ET

Singapore’s home prices could fall more than expected this year and unwinding cooling measures may not staunch any damage, Nomura said. Most analysts already expect the city-state’s private home prices to decline, forecasting a peak-to-trough correction of around 10 to 15 percent through 2016, with a drop of around 5 percent this year, Min Chow Sai, an analyst at Nomura, said in a note. Read more of this post

Curbing fraud, corruption

Updated: Saturday January 18, 2014 MYT 11:12:09 AM

Curbing fraud, corruption

BY WONG WEI-SHEN

FRAUD, bribery and corruption are issues that have always been a sensitive subject, especially where Malaysian businesses are concerned. Although these days, many companies have taken it upon themselves to put policies and controls in place to curb those issues, the underlying notion that fraud, bribery and corruption is part and parcel of doing business in Malaysia, unfortunately still exists. Read more of this post

7-Eleven makes another attempt to list on Bursa Malaysia

Updated: Saturday January 18, 2014 MYT 11:18:13 AM

7-Eleven makes another attempt to list on Bursa Malaysia

BY JOHN LOH

AFTER getting canned in November, will the initial public offering (IPO) of Berjaya Corp Bhd’s 7-Eleven franchise be third time lucky? At first glance, the listing structure is not much different from what was proposed last year, according to the draft prospectus for the more aptly-named 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd (formerly Seven Convenience Bhd). Read more of this post

Brazil’s Class Struggle Goes to the Mall

Brazil’s Class Struggle Goes to the Mall

LORETTA CHAO and ROGERIO JELMAYER

Jan. 17, 2014 7:59 p.m. ET

Protests broke out at the Campo Limpo mall in São Paulo on Thursday against an injunction to forbid rolezinhos, big gatherings in shopping malls. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

SÃO PAULO—For as long as many can remember, a rolezinho was slang for a gathering of teenagers in a public place. The teens organize a group and arrange a meeting place, perhaps outdoors, in a park. In São Paulo, it is often at a shopping mall, a favorite weekend hangout across all social classes. Read more of this post

Valuations: Is this nuts? Investors appear to have taken leave of their senses, pumping cash into projects regardless of profitability

January 17, 2014 7:55 pm

Valuations: Is this nuts?

By Paul Murphy

Investors appear to have taken leave of their senses, pumping cash into projects regardless of profitability

This week Google agreed to pay $3.2bn for a privately owned four-year-old start-up. Nest specialises in smart gadgets for the home, such as a WiFi-enabled thermostat that might cut heating and cooling bills. Read more of this post

The U.S. government’s bitcoin bonanza: How, where and when to sell?

The U.S. government’s bitcoin bonanza: How, where and when to sell?

7:17pm EST

By Emily Flitter

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan are sitting on a multimillion-dollar bitcoin gold mine. And it could get much bigger. Federal authorities hauled in 29,655 units of the digital currency – worth $27 million at current exchange rates – through an official forfeiture by Bitcoin this week. Read more of this post

The Good, Bad, and Ugly: A Guide to 2014; The year ahead presents challenges as well as investment opportunities, say 10 Barron’s Roundtable experts

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2014

The Good, Bad, and Ugly: A Guide to 2014

By LAUREN R. RUBLIN | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

The year ahead presents challenges as well as investment opportunities, say our 10 Roundtable experts.

We wish we could share the official view of the Barron’s Roundtable regarding the economy and markets in 2014. But it was impossible to find much common ground this year among our passionate, principled, and occasionally pugilistic panelists, whether the discussion veered toward interest rates, stock prices, GDP, or lunch. Read more of this post

The Future Of Jobs: The Onrushing Wave; Previous technological innovation has always delivered more long-run employment, not less. But things can change

The Future Of Jobs: The Onrushing Wave

THE ECONOMIST

JAN. 17, 2014, 11:55 AM 23,164 69

Previous technological innovation has always delivered more long-run employment, not less. But things can change.

IN 1930, when the world was “suffering…from a bad attack of economic pessimism”, John Maynard Keynes wrote a broadly optimistic essay, “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren”. It imagined a middle way between revolution and stagnation that would leave the said grandchildren a great deal richer than their grandparents. But the path was not without dangers. Read more of this post