Bamboo Innovator

Clarifying SGX’s clarification on the “penny” stock scandal in Singapore

Clarifying SGX’s clarification

Friday, Nov 01, 2013

R Sivanithy

The Business Times

In response to the tumultuous events of the past three weeks involving the speculative trio of stocks Asiasons, Blumont and LionGold, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) last Friday issued a detailed clarification to correct what it believes are misconceptions about its role as frontline market regulator. Clearly intended to be the final word on the subject, SGX’s explanations are useful as they address gaps in the public’s understanding of the way regulatory matters are handled and how the exchange views its role. Last Friday’s release should be compulsory reading for all parties interested in regulatory matters, how discipline is maintained in daily trading, and overall governance. Read more of this post

Starbucks Gets Ready to Go From Tall to Venti in China

Starbucks Gets Ready to Go From Tall to Venti in China

By Venessa Wong November 01, 2013

The last year, according to Starbucks (SBUX) Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz, has been “without question the best year in its 42-year history.” Bullish numbers back up his triumphalism, even if quarterly results trailed analysts’ estimates: a 7 percent increase in global same-store sales, a 24.4 percent surge in profit, and 1,700 new stores around the world.

Read more of this post

Go on, bet the farm: At a crucial gathering, China’s leader must push for bold change, particularly in the countryside

Go on, bet the farm: At a crucial gathering, China’s leader must push for bold change, particularly in the countryside

Nov 2nd 2013 |From the print edition

WHEN colleagues complain that meetings achieve nothing, silence them with eight leaden words: “third plenary session of the 11th central committee”. This five-day Communist Party gathering in December 1978 utterly changed China. Two years after the death of Mao Zedong, it put the thrice-purged Deng Xiaoping at the helm, raised the importance of livelihoods above class struggle, loosened state controls and led to the opening of China to foreign trade and investment. In a nod to the left it still clung to the “people’s communes” in the countryside that had led to mass starvation under Mao; but with Deng in charge, they soon unravelled. The consequences affected a large chunk of humanity. Annual incomes were then $200 a head; today they are $6,000. For the rest of the world, everything the plenum accomplished is contained in the shorthand “China’s rise”. Read more of this post

For Rural Bank, Being Big Also Means Big Complexities

11.01.2013 11:53

For Rural Bank, Being Big Also Means Big Complexities

Postal Savings started out large and has only grown, but its heft means making changes is hard, its president says

By staff reporters Zhang Yuzhe and Ling Huawei

(Beijing) – Understanding the complexity of the Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC) – a spin-off of the postal service operator and now the seventh-largest bank in the country – is difficult even though more than six years have passed since it was established. The bank has never tapped the capital market for funds and thus has never been required to publish its financials. As a latecomer to banking, it is sitting on a huge stash of money that other big lenders have kept coming to for help whenever liquidity tightened. Read more of this post

Chinese Rage at the Pension System

Chinese Rage at the Pension System

By Dexter Roberts October 31, 2013

When a Beijing professor recently suggested pushing back the age at which retirees get their pensions, China’s bloggers let loose. “You’re indeed completely without conscience, a mouth filled with poison and cruelty, your heart that of a beast,” wrote one blogger from Shenyang, in Liaoning province, on the online portal Sohu.com, according to ChinaSMACK, a website that translates Chinese Internet content. “The clamor to postpone the retirement age is getting louder, a raging fire burns in my heart,” wrote another from Jiangxi province. “Tsinghua University truly has raised a bunch of garbage professors,” wrote a blogger from Guangdong, referring to Yang Yansui, director of Tsinghua’s employment and social security institute, who raised the idea. Read more of this post

Chinese land reform: A world to turn upside down

Chinese land reform: A world to turn upside down

Of the economic issues facing November’s plenum of the Chinese Communist Party, none looms larger than land reform in the countryside

Nov 2nd 2013 | BEIJING AND GUMIAN VILLAGE, GUANGDONG PROVINCE |From the print edition

MORTGAGING a village home is a sensitive issue in China. A nervous local official has warned residents of Gumian, a small farming community set amid hills and paddies in Guangdong province, that they risk leaking state secrets if they talk to a foreign reporter about the new borrowing scheme that lets them make use of the value of their houses. They talk anyway; they are excited by what is going on. Read more of this post

China Brands Follow Dior to Paris Seeking European Glitz: Retail

China Brands Follow Dior to Paris Seeking European Glitz: Retail

By Bloomberg News – Nov 1, 2013

Chinese globetrotters seeking some Western pizazz for their wardrobes in the chic boutiques of Place Vendome in Paris or London’s Mayfair are increasingly likely to end up pondering altogether more familiar garb. Shanghai Woo, a homespun Chinese maker of scarves, plans outlets in Paris, London, Milan and New York over the next three years.Bosideng International Holdings Ltd., seller of 500 yuan ($82) down jackets in China, is counting on a new store in London’s South Molton Street to lend it some allure. Hong Kong-listed Trinity Ltd. this year started selling its Kent & Curwen menswear line at New York’s Bloomingdale’s. Read more of this post

A three-way bidding war for Australian cheese that is already leading to one of Asia’s most expensive food deals is poised to become even pricier

Bid War for Cheese Heralds 13% Warrnambool Bump: Real M&A

By Angus Whitley and David Stringer – Nov 1, 2013

A three-way bidding war for Australian cheese that is already leading to one of Asia’s most expensive food deals is poised to become even pricier. Saputo Inc. (SAP) of Montreal offered $425 million for Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Co. (WCB) last month, beating two bidders with a record premium for a peer in Asia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. After Japan’s Kirin Holdings Co. (2503) this week bought about 10 percent of Warrnambool for more than Saputo’s proposed takeover price, bids may rise even higher, said RBS Morgans Ltd. Read more of this post

Taiwan food company indicted for fraud

Taiwan food company indicted for fraud

Friday, November 1, 2013 – 09:37

Lauly Li

The China Post/Asia News Network

TAIPEI – The Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office on Thursday indicted Flavor Full Foods (富味鄉食品) Chairman Chen Wen-nan (陳文南) and five other company employees on charges of fraud and violations of the Act Governing Food Sanitation. Prosecutor said that Chen, who doubles as the firm’s manager, and technical director Chen Rui-li (陳瑞禮), research & development centre manager Lin Rui-tsung (林瑞聰), and supplies section chief Liu Chi-wei (劉騏瑋) had allegedly added low-cost sesame oil into the firm’s three so-called 100-per cent pure sesame oil products since December 2009. Read more of this post

Japan Stocks Sink to Monthly Worst in Developed Markets

Japan Stocks Sink to Monthly Worst in Developed Markets

By Yoshiaki Nohara and Toshiro Hasegawa – Nov 1, 2013

Japan’s stocks trailed every other developed market last month, with the steepest rally in 40 years petering out on concern a higher sales tax will curb growth while U.S. stimulus bolsters the yen. The Topix index rose less than 0.1 percent in October, the smallest gain among 24 developed markets tracked by Bloomberg. The gauge, which remains the best performer this year with a 39 percent surge, has fallen for four of the past six months. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Oct. 1 he will proceed with a plan to raise the sales levy in April to 8 percent from 5 percent. Strategists pared forecasts for yen declines as a weaker economic outlook spurred speculation that the Federal Reserve will delay reducing its monthly bond purchases. Read more of this post

The Bank of Korea has warned that the middle class, which constitutes the economic backbone of our society, could possibly collapse due to debt burden

2013-11-01 16:51

Middle class on brink

The Bank of Korea has warned that the middle class, which constitutes the economic backbone of our society, could possibly collapse. According to a report on financial stability released by the central bank on Thursday, people in the middle-income pool with medium credit ratings are increasingly feeling the weight of their debt burden. This is because the financial authorities, concerned over the increasing growth of household debt in 2011 and 2012, encouraged banks and other financial institutions to tighten their lending, which resulted in those with lower credit ratings seeking out loans with higher interest from non-banking private lenders. Aside from the prolonged business slump, a sharp rise in “jeonse’’ ― which requires renters to make a lump-sum deposit for a rental space ― has also amplified the burden on middle-income debtors. Read more of this post