August, 2017

• 8 August

  Hong Kong startup nears $500 million valuation

  

  Bloomberg TNG FinTech Group Inc., a Hong Kong-based digital wallet operator founded in 2013, is poised to close a funding round and is targeting a valuation of about $500 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. The firm has attracted almost $60 million in the series. A round from investors including a Beijing-based private equity fund, said the ...

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• 8 August

  India Exim sells dollar bond in Taiwan

  Bloomberg State-owned Export-Import Bank of India sold its first dollar bond in Taiwan’s Formosa debt market, joining Korea’s Kookmin Bank and Europe’s ABN Amro Bank NV so far this year to tap local investors demand for floating-rate debt that offers protection to buyers. Overseas issuers have been able to obtain “some pricing advantages from Formosa floaters compared to the global ...

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• 8 August

  Zuma survives ouster bid to maintain grip on power

  

  Bloomberg South African President Jacob Zuma survived a no-confidence motion in parliament, ensu- ring that he’ll maintain his grip on power until at least the end of the year. The motion was defeated by 198 votes to 177, Baleka Mbete, the speaker of the National Assembly, announced at a sitting in Cape Town. Nine of the 384 lawmakers present in ...

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• 8 August

  US envoys seek to shift focus away from 13 Qatar demands

  Bloomberg Two US envoys shuttling between Middle East capitals to resolve the Qatar crisis want to shift the focus away from the 13 conditions demanded by the Saudi-led alliance, according to a Gulf official with knowledge of the matter. General Anthony Zinni, a retired former head of US Central Command, and senior State Department official Timothy Lenderking will promote a ...

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• 8 August

  Rouhani keeps allies in key posts as US tensions grow

  Bloomberg Iranian President Hassan Rouhani kept top allies in key posts as he presented his proposed cabinet to parliament, unveiling the team he’ll depend on to pursue an agenda being buffeted by escalating tensions with the US and opposition at home. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh were reappointed, as was Abbas Akhoundi, the minister for ...

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• 8 August

  Macedonia eyes NATO to ward off Russian meddling

  

  Bloomberg The Republic of Macedonia’s new government is stepping up its efforts to join NATO, arguing that membership in the military alliance will protect the Balkan nation from Russia “interfering” in its affairs, the country’s defense minister said. “Influences interfering in this strategic goal aren’t helpful, and they’re not friendly,” Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska said in an interview in Skopje ...

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• 8 August

  Poland ramps up case for World War II reparations

  Bloomberg Poland’s ruling officials are stepping up calls to demand compensation from Germany for damages caused in World War II, potentially deepening a divide between the European Union’s largest eastern member and the bloc’s biggest economy. Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki lamented that Poland was “massacred” by the country’s neighbor in the war, echoing recent statements by Defense Minister Antoni ...

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• 8 August

  Disaffected youth wild card in Kenya’s cliffhanger vote

  

  Bloomberg Having watched Kenya’s economic boom pass him by, security guard Frederick Kibaraza is skeptical whether there’s any point voting in Tuesday’s cliffhanger elections. “I am not falling for the ideas of politicians,” Kibaraza, 27, said as he strolled along a dusty street near his home in Kawangware, a slum in the capital, Nairobi. “We vote for them and they ...

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• 8 August

  Trump’s dollar mess

  

  President Donald Trump loves to trumpet the record run in US stocks. “Stock market hits another high with spirit and enthusiasm so positive,” he tweeted on July 12, in one of nine posts about the market last month. But he’s hardly tweeted a word about another, less rosy measure of Trump’s America: the US dollar. The greenback has fallen hard ...

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• 8 August

  SE Asia—The global growth leader

  

  The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has much to crow about as it marks its 50th anniversary: economic and social progress, a manufacturing powerhouse and relative political stability. The 10 Asean members boast of some of the world’s fastest expanding economies like the Philippines and Vietnam, with growth rates of more than 6 percent. With a combined population of over ...

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