October, 2020

• 12 October

  Xi trip to Hong Kong shows China’s plan to unify region

  

  Bloomberg President Xi Jinping is set to visit Shenzhen this week to shore up plans to make southern China a global technology hub, prompting Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to delay an annual economic policy address. Xi is scheduled to deliver an address on Wednesday and meet the leaders of Hong Kong and Macau, the official Xinhua News Agency said ...

  Read More »
• 12 October

  Protests over Nigeria police brutality block main commercial hub

  

  Bloomberg Protesters blocked a key route into Nigeria’s commercial hub on Monday, a day after President Muhammadu Buhari bowed to their demands to disband a controversial police unit. Hundreds of demonstrators forced motorists trying to drive to Victoria Island in Lagos, the main business district, to turn back at the Lekki Toll Gate in the south of the city. Dozens ...

  Read More »
• 12 October

  India’s new bridges may worsen standoff along tense China border

  

  Bloomberg India opened dozens of new bridges — many of them providing all-weather access along its disputed border with China — in a move that could provoke a fresh round of tensions. Eight of the bridges are in the Ladakh province, where India and China have each amassed over 50,000 soldiers, tanks, missiles and have put on fighters on stand-by, ...

  Read More »
• 12 October

  China indicts Australian ‘spy’ held for two years

  Bloomberg China moved to prosecute an Australian writer detained in the mainland for almost two years on spying charges, the latest strain on an increasingly tense relationship between Beijing and Canberra. Beijing prosecutors indicted Yang Hengjun on allegations of espionage, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular news briefing on Monday. Yang, a Chinese-born Australian national who’s also ...

  Read More »
• 12 October

  Hong Kong bankers losing their jobs to Chinese rivals

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s homegrown investment bankers are rapidly losing their status as city’s go-to dealmakers, supplanted by mainland Chinese rivals who now hold a majority of senior jobs in Asia’s biggest financial hub. While the shift has long seemed inevitable given the expanding pool of mainland talent and dominant role of Chinese issuers in Hong Kong, the recent pace of ...

  Read More »
• 12 October

  ICBC’s biggest surge in three years bodes well for Hong Kong stocks

  

  Bloomberg For some investors, Chinese bank shares in Hong Kong finally became cheap enough to buy. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) surged as much as 7.2%, its best intraday gain in three years, after trading at the biggest discount to its Shanghai shares since early 2018. Its mainland shares only rise as much as 1.2%. ICBC’s Hong ...

  Read More »
• 12 October

  Denmark to let banks fund early retirement for workers

  

  Bloomberg The Danish government’s plan to fund early retirement for some workers by introducing an extra tax on the financial industry has gained enough support among opposition parties to be turned into law next year. After negotiations into the early hours of Saturday, the Danish Social Democrat-led government announced that it had reached an agreement with opposition parties to support ...

  Read More »
• 12 October

  EU weighs creating a network of bad banks

  

  Bloomberg The European Commission is considering setting up a network of bad banks amid growing worries over non-performing loans during the coronavirus crisis, according to German newspaper Boersen-Zeitung. The network would bring economies of scale by directly opening the affected institutions and their assets to multiple jurisdictions, according to the report. It cites a presentation by the Directorate-General Fisma, which ...

  Read More »
• 12 October

  SNB gets all clear from BIS on currency interventions

  

  Bloomberg Bank of International Settlements’ General Manager Agustin Carstens doesn’t consider the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to be a currency manipulator, according to an interview with Neue Zuercher Zeitung. Carstens told the Swiss newspaper the SNB is merely responding to loose monetary policy worldwide and using the purchases as a defensive measure in light of the large global demand for ...

  Read More »
• 12 October

  Covid-19 can persist for four weeks on banknotes

  

  Bloomberg The new coronavirus may remain infectious for weeks on banknotes, glass and other common surfaces, according to research by Australia’s top biosecurity laboratory that highlights risks from paper currency, touchscreen devices and grab handles and rails. Scientists at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness showed Sars-CoV-2 is “extremely robust,” surviving for 28 days on smooth surfaces such as glass ...

  Read More »