January, 2020

• 6 January

  Duterte’s water rants hit pitch to investors

  Bloomberg Soon after he became president of the Philippines in 2016, Rodrigo Duterte ordered government officials “to refrain from changing and bending the rules of government contracts.” Halfway through his six-year term, Duterte’s commitment is under question. In December, the firebrand leader ordered the renegotiation of long-agreed contracts for Manila Water Co and Maynilad Water Services Inc to supply the ...

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• 6 January

  Ratan Tata is fighting to save legacy

  

  Bloomberg After ousting his protege-turned-foe from the helm of Tata Sons Pvt in a boardroom coup three years ago, Ratan Tata was looking forward to a partial retirement. Instead, he’s fighting the battle all over again — this time in a court. India’s Supreme Court is expected to hear as early as this week an appeal by the $111-billion conglomerate ...

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• 6 January

  India services index surges to five-month high

  

  Bloomberg India’s main services index rose to the highest level in five months in December as improving new work orders helped boost activity in the country’s dominant sector. The seasonally adjusted Markit India Services PMI index climbed to 53.3 from 52.7 in November, suggesting a strong end to the calendar year. The level was the highest since July. A reading ...

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• 6 January

  Ursula von der Leyen, EU’s centripetal force

  

  Centrifugal or centripetal, which force will prevail in the European Union (EU) in 2020? A lot suggests it’ll be the former, with the EU drifting apart. Its third-biggest member state is preparing to exit. Populists are railing against Brussels and want their “sovereignty” back. Conservatives in the north balk at deeper integration of the euro area. One woman who wants ...

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• 6 January

  Implicit bias training doesn’t work

  

  From Google to Papa John’s to Buffalo Wings and Starbucks, more companies are introducing implicit bias training. These HR-sponsored courses are intended to foster diversity and inclusion by making employees more aware of unconsciously believed negative stereotypes. The idea is that if we can combat our underlying biases, we’ll decrease discriminatory behaviours at work and level the playing field for ...

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• 6 January

  Shanghai-London connect was always a pipe dream

  It’s always easier to put up a barrier on an empty road than a busy highway. That’s worth remembering in light of recent reports that China has temporarily suspended cross-border listings between the Shanghai and London stock exchanges. The halt is a response to the UK’s stance on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar ...

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• 6 January

  Say final goodbye to banking as we know it

  So is China readying its own Bitcoin? Banish the thought. It’s far bigger than that. Yes, just like any other cryptocurrency — or for that matter, cigarettes in prisoners-of-war camps — the upcoming digital yuan will be “tokenised” money. But the similarity ends there. The crypto yuan, which may be on offer as soon as 2020, will be fully backed ...

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• 6 January

  The EU is no match for financial crime gangs

  

  Europe’s reputation on financial crime took another battering in 2019. Several of the region’s biggest lenders, including ABN Amro Bank NV and Swedbank AB, were tarred by allegations that they let criminals move around their cash unhindered, a reminder that Danske Bank A/S’s mammoth money-laundering failings weren’t isolated. At least the scale of the problem isn’t going unnoticed. Politicians and ...

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• 6 January

  Central banks are the biggest risk to economy in 2020

  

  The US economic recovery that began in June 2009 is now in its 127th month, which is a record. Even more impressive is that for the first time since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the US just completed the first calendar decade without even one day of a recession. There are a few key reasons why ...

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• 6 January

  Twitter begs users to target themselves for ads

  

  A few weeks ago, Twitter gave users an early holiday present in the form of “Topics,” a feature that lets them subscribe to feeds on a given subject. As the company explained it, the feature reduces the need for users to track down accounts to follow; rather, “the conversation will come to you.” Although Topics sound like it might be ...

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