January, 2020

• 20 January

  Rupiah may take baht crown as Asia’s strongest currency

  

  Bloomberg The Thai baht was Asia’s best-performing currency by a country mile last year. This year’s winner looks to have been already decided: the Indonesian rupiah. The currency of Southeast Asia’s most populous nation has rallied for seven straight weeks as the bumper yields offered by the nation’s government bonds enticed carry traders and the central bank said it would …

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• 20 January

  India bond yields are headed higher amid inflation worries

  

  Bloomberg Even as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) takes a page out of the Federal Reserve’s playbook to push down borrowing costs, yields are headed higher as inflation is unlikely to abate soon, according to Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd. Inflation will probably remain elevated over the next six to 12 months, according to Maneesh Dangi, who oversees …

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• 20 January

  Deutsche Bank bids for another ailing India power project’s debt

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is offering to buy the debt of an Indian power producer at a discount of about 70%, according to people familiar with the matter, the second such proposal from the German lender in recent weeks. It proposed to pay 11.50 billion rupees ($162 million) for 39 billion rupees of loans, excluding accrued interest, to a power …

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• 20 January

  Citi Private Bank hires UBS veteran Christian Schuwey for Asia FX role

  

  Bloomberg Citi Private Bank appointed Christian Schuwey, formerly from UBS Private Bank, as its head of South Asia FX Advisory, according to a company memo seen by Bloomberg. Schuwey, who worked at UBS for more than 30 years in foreign-exchange roles, is based in Singapore, according to the memo. He will drive Citi’s efforts to grow in Southeast Asia, India, …

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• 20 January

  JPMorgan to acquire former BNP building in central Paris

  

  Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co is buying the former BNP Paribas SA offices in central Paris with space to house as many as 450 employees, as banks seek to bolster their footprint in the European Union after Brexit. JPMorgan, which currently has 260 employees in the French capital, is taking over the seven-storey building a short walk from the Louvre …

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• 20 January

  Goldman Sachs opens branch in South Africa

  

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. received approval from the South African Reserve Bank to conduct the business of a bank in the country, it said. It will open the Johannesburg branch of Goldman Sachs International Bank, and has been admitted as a member of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s interest rate and currency derivatives market, it said in a statement on …

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• 20 January

  Nomura is hiring dozens of bankers for Asia wealth drive

  

  Bloomberg Nomura Holdings Inc plans to hire dozens of private bankers in Hong Kong and Singapore in a bid to extend its wealth management push from Japan and mainland China to the rest of Asia. The Tokyo-based firm, which has already outlined aggressive plans for China, aims to grow the assets it manages from those two hubs by five times …

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• 19 January

  Dozens of soldiers killed in Yemen military base attack

  Bloomberg Dozens have been killed and wounded in a missile attack on a training camp for government forces in the central province of Marib, Yemen, according to the Mareb Press news website. Citing an undisclosed medical source, the website said that 30 soldiers were killed and over 50 others wounded in an attack by missiles and drones, adding that the …

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• 19 January

  Mideast stocks climb with earnings in focus

  

  Bloomberg Most Middle Eastern equity markets gained at the start of the week, with investors focusing on earnings across the region. Dubai’s benchmark index rose for a seventh consecutive session as banks and real estate companies climbed. Stock gauges in Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Egypt also advanced. Saudi retailer United Electronics Company, or Extra, finished at a record high after …

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• 19 January

  Regional logistics growth to intensify in 2020: Experts

  

  DUBAI / WAM The growth pace of the regional logistics industry is set to intensify in the year 2020 on the back of boosted UAE growth expectations. The UAE is hosting the region’s first Expo, in 2020, a mega event which is poised to start in October and for which preparations are in full swing. The growth driven by the …

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