January, 2020

• 5 January

  What happens when an airline forays into restaurant business?

  

  The Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur has more than 100 restaurants, cafes, and snack stands to meet every kind of craving. As of this month, that list includes a novel and seemingly quixotic option: Santan, a cafe that serves airplane food in cardboard boxes. As restaurant concepts go, “quick airplane food” isn’t an obvious winner. But Santan is owned ...

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• 5 January

  The internet is no longer a disruptive technology

  

  Internet-enabled industry disruption defined business strategy in the 2010s, but as 2020 begins, that era appears to be winding down. The disruptors have largely become the new establishment, and unlike a decade ago, it doesn’t look like the new leaders will be displaced any time soon. Today’s internet is a mature and mainstream technology. This was not the case a ...

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• 5 January

  Bernanke says Fed has tools it needs to fight next recession

  

  Bloomberg Former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke delivered what he called “a relatively upbeat” assessment of the US central bank’s ability to fight the next recession. While the Fed has limited room to cut short-term interest rates because they’re already so low, Bernanke argued that quantitative easing and forward guidance could provide enough extra punch to combat a future economic ...

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• 5 January

  Thai baht, Taiwan dollar fight for Asia supremacy

  

  Bloomberg Emerging Asia’s top-performing currency in 2019 may find itself dethroned this year by a rival that’s also armed with a strong current-account surplus. Both the Thai baht, which took the regional crown with a 9% gain last year versus the US dollar, and the Taiwanese dollar climbed above the psychologically significant 30-per-dollar level this week. Scotiabank, among the top ...

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• 5 January

  Argentina minister signals strict currency rules to stay

  

  Bloomberg Argentina’s “strict” foreign-exchange regulations will remain in force as the government seeks to stabilise the economy, the Pagina/12 newspaper reported, citing Production Minister Matias Kulfas. Lawmakers last month handed President Alberto Fernandez extraordinary powers to renegotiate debt terms with creditors and increase taxes, marking a victory on his first legislation since taking office last month. “In the current context, ...

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• 5 January

  Two more groups eye S’pore digital banking license

  Bloomberg Two more consortiums said they submitted bids for digital banking licenses in Singapore as companies, ranging from a massage chair maker to a property giant and Chinese fintech firms, joined forces to go for the sought-after permits. Beyond Consortium, led by one of Asia’s largest massage chair makers, V3 Group Ltd and stored-value card company EZ-Link Pte, submitted a ...

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• 5 January

  PBOC pledges financial support for small firms

  

  Bloomberg China’s central bank pledged more financial support for small and micro businesses while saying it plans to stick to a prudent monetary policy stance this year. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will improve the incentive mechanism for lending to such companies, it said in a statement following a two-day work conference in Beijing. Authorities will make it easier ...

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• 5 January

  Zombie firms aren’t feeding off low rates and cheap money

  

  Bloomberg There’s no end of theories on all the ways in which negative interest rates are hurting economies. But in Denmark, where the policy has existed longer than anywhere else, one fear seems to have been put to rest. The central bank in Copenhagen, which uses negative rates to keep the krone pegged to the euro, says its research shows ...

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• 4 January

  Oil industry braces for Mideast turmoil after Soleimani killing

  

  Bloomberg The US assassination of one of Iran’s most powerful generals has the oil industry bracing for something it has long feared and anticipated — direct military confrontation between the two adversaries. In the hours after President Donald Trump ordered the killing at Baghdad airport of Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran’s Quds force, crude oil surged, American workers began to ...

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• 4 January

  China’s new measures to shore up troubled banks

  

  Bloomberg China’s financial regulator said it will implement a series of measures to shore up nation’s troubled smaller banks and insurers while continuing a clampdown on shadow financing, property speculation. The regulator will introduce measures to eliminate bad loans and promote mergers, capital injections and the restructuring of high risk institutions, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said in ...

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