Opinion

China’s banks doled out a fifth more loans in the first quarter than a year earlier, so profit increases shouldn’t be surprising. What’s striking is just how small – and similar – those gains are. The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp. and Bank of Communications Co. posted higher net income. ...

The way the cost of financial misconduct has been rising globally, a $158 million fine may seem like loose change. However, the Securities & Exchange Board of India has delivered much more than a slap of the wrist with its disgorgement order against the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. over an algorithmic trading scandal. Including five years of interest ...

There’s a familiar refrain in Australia when public discussion turns to the country’s eye-wateringly expensive housing market: Foreigners are to blame. Public figures from former Prime Minister Tony Abbott to populist entrepreneur Dick Smith to far-right Senator Fraser Anning all agree that immigration is a key reason why the country’s homes are some of the world’s priciest. At the same ...

Warren Buffett has repeatedly said he was an “idiot” for not buying stock of Amazon.com Inc. when the company was younger and its share price was lower. Now comes news that his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. plopped some shares of the e-commerce giant in its shopping cart, at a time when Amazon is shedding some but not all of the characteristics ...

All it takes is a quick trip to Jakarta to realise that Uber Technologies Inc. missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime. Go-Jek Indonesia PT and GrabTaxi Holdings Pte, which started out as copycats of the US ride-hailing pioneer, have morphed into something far grander. Not only are their main car-hire businesses thriving, the companies have turned into super-apps ...

We live in an age obsessed with economic inequality. There is too much of it, most people seem to agree. After Donald Trump — his personality, behaviour and policies — inequality may well become the dominant issue in the 2020 election. This poses dangers, the most obvious being the tendency to blame the rich and the super-rich for everything that ...

Emmanuel Macron swept to power in 2017 on a pro-EU, anti-far right ticket, determined to reshape the bloc in his image with the help of Germany’s Angela Merkel. But his early ambition to deepen Europe’s ties in a host of areas – including a common budget for the euro zone – was soon replaced by fudge and vague promises, as ...

For more than a decade, executives, intelligence agencies and conspiracy theorists have been warning about the dangers of equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co. And for almost as long, Huawei has denied that its telecommunications products pose any kind of security threat. The West has finally found its smoking gun. Yet it may not be enough to sway those on ...

This was supposed to be a no-drama, non-event Federal Reserve policy meeting — and was, until a small communication slip led to outsize moves in markets, with stocks and bonds selling off simultaneously. Understanding why tells us a lot about investor mentality and market positioning, not to mention the need for the Federal Reserve to develop a better feel for ...

Even as he awaits official confirmation of his election to a second term, Indonesian President Joko Widodo appears to be thinking about his legacy. He’s proposing a $33 billion plan to relocate the capital far away from clogged Jakarta. The idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds. That doesn’t mean it’ll work. Jokowi, as the Indonesian leader is known, is ...