3 d. ago Fintech can supercharge Hong Kong as financial hub: Broadridge CEO

Embracing technology platforms for applications such as electronic proxy voting, private debt underwriting and trading of repurchase (repo) agreements can help Hong Kong elevate its standing as Asia’s top financial hub, according to a leading US fintech firm. Technologies that simplified investor engagement had been a catalyst for growth in other markets, said Tim Gokey, CEO of New York-listed Broadridge Financial Solutions, adding that fintech could enhance corporate governance and product...

Economics

4 d. ago Hong Kong will navigate trade war with new strategies, Paul Chan says in US

Hong Kong will successfully navigate protracted geopolitical tensions, serving as a supply chain hub while providing financial services and innovation, the finance chief has said after a visit to the United States where he promoted the city. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po offered the upbeat assessment in an interview with the Post at the end of his first visit to Washington since 2019, with a fresh phase of the US-China trade war looming and Hong Kong caught up in the rivalry. “Geopolitical...

Events

5 d. ago Sinking Shanghai, iPhone Air sells out in China: SCMP daily highlights

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Double whammy: Shanghai is sinking while sea level rises fast Shanghai is sinking while the sea level along China’s coastline is rising fast – its fastest in 4,000 years – possibly threatening China’s financial hub and the global supply chain, scientists warn in a new study. 2. Ships divert, directors resign as US-China port fees rock shipping...

Politics

5 d. ago Indonesia’s Bali subway plan stalls over investor concerns and feasibility

A US$20 billion plan to build an underground light rail in Indonesia’s Bali has stalled due to wary investors and concerns over land scarcity, throwing into question whether the island’s long-promised solution to solve its notorious traffic gridlock would ever get off the ground. More than a year after its ceremonial groundbreaking, the “Bali Urban Subway” remains in the feasibility-study phase. Officials once hailed the project as a game changer that would ease congestion and preserve the...

Economics

5 d. ago Australians charged with murder over Bali shooting, could face death penalty

Three Australians who allegedly shot and killed a fellow countryman on the tourist island of Bali earlier this year have been charged with premeditated murder – an offence that carries the maximum death penalty in Indonesia. Dubbed the “Bali Three”, the men are accused of planning and carrying out the fatal shooting of Melbourne man Zivan Radmanovic as his wife, Jazmyn Gourdeas, hid under the covers in a villa in the Badung region just after midnight on June 14. Radmanovic’s brother-in-law,...

Events

5 d. ago Double whammy: Shanghai is sinking while sea level rises fast

Shanghai is sinking while the sea level along China’s coastline is rising fast – its fastest in 4,000 years, possibly threatening China’s financial hub and the global supply chain, scientists warn in a new study. China faces a double threat from rising seas, as many of its largest and most economically important cities are concentrated in delta regions, which are flat lands close to water. They were ideal for urban development but extremely vulnerable to flooding, the team said. Shanghai,...

Politics

5 d. ago China’s double threat: Shanghai sinks as sea level rises fastest in 4,000 years

Shanghai is sinking while the world’s sea levels are rising fast – the fastest in 4,000 years – possibly threatening the Chinese financial hub and the global supply chain, scientists warn in a new study. China faces a double threat from rising seas, according to the multinational team, as many of its largest and most economically important cities are concentrated in delta regions – flat lands close to water that were ideal for urban development but remain extremely vulnerable to...

Events

9 d. ago Can a financial hub on Bali fix Indonesia’s lagging economy?

Indonesia is planning to create a financial hub in tourist hotspot Bali as it seeks to boost its lagging economy by attracting international banks, asset managers and private equity firms, according to people familiar with the matter. President Prabowo Subianto has endorsed his government’s proposal to model the tourist island after the likes of India’s Gujarat International Finance ­Tec-­City, also known as GIFT City, and the Dubai International Financial Centre, said the people who asked not...

Economics

1 week ago Shanghai to scrap all foreign investment limits on manufacturing

Mainland China’s commercial and financial hub Shanghai has pledged to remove all regulatory hurdles for foreign investors to set up manufacturing businesses, as authorities move to shore up confidence in the local and national economies despite rising US-China trade tensions. Mayor Gong Zheng said on Sunday that deepened reforms had been carried out to grant overseas companies in the fields of electric vehicles, value-added telecommunications services, biotechnology and hospitals full access to...

Economics

1 week ago Hong Kong’s financing future hinges on adapting to China’s hi

This is the sixth and final part of the exclusive Capital Connectors series in which influential Chinese and global bankers reveal the opportunities and challenges for Hong Kong in its evolution as an international financial hub. If history serves as a guide, Hong Kong’s continued reign as a premier international financial centre depends on a time-tested formula: adapting to meet evolving needs, particularly in response to the development of China’s economy, according to Wang Lei, CEO of Huatai...

Politics

1 week ago China’s ‘super golden week’ box office lags, but annual picture improves

China’s extended “super golden week” holiday saw cinemas’ box-office revenues slump compared to last year’s National Day break, but nationwide takings since the start of the year have already exceeded the total for all of 2024. According to box-office tracker Dengta Data, cinemas raked in 1.83 billion yuan (US$257 million) during the eight-day holiday, which ended on Wednesday. That was the second-lowest total since 2017 and down from the 2.1 billion yuan reported for the regular seven-day...

Politics

2 w. ago Hong Kong can help mainland China ‘take renminbi global, build ties with France’

Hong Kong’s dual status as an international financial centre and offshore renminbi trading hub allows it to play a vital role in taking the yuan onto the global stage and promoting Sino-French economic ties, mainland Chinese business leaders have told a meeting in Paris. Representatives from major mainland companies and financial institutions in Paris raised the idea with a delegation from the Better Hong Kong Foundation, led by its executive committee chairman, Ronnie Chan Chi-chung, during a...

Politics

2 w. ago Hong Kong market’s connector role not just for mainland China: Citic boss

In the Capital Connectors series, exclusive interviews with six influential Chinese and global bankers reveal the opportunities and challenges for Hong Kong in its evolution as an international financial hub. When Thai coconut water brand IFBH raised HK$1.16 billion (US$149 million) through a stock offering in Hong Kong in June, Li Chunbo, chairman and CEO of the deal’s sole sponsor Citic Securities International, saw it as more than just another listing from Southeast Asia. The world’s...

Economics

2 w. ago Hong Kong the launch pad for China’s new financial ideas, UBS China chief says

In the first instalment of a six-part series about financiers who act as mainland China’s Capital Connectors with the world, UBS Securities’ chairwoman Janice Hu talks about the opportunities and challenges for Hong Kong in its evolution as an international financial hub. As Beijing recalibrates trade and investment away from the US, Hong Kong is being cast once again as the launch pad for China’s global ambitions. A surge in cross-border flows between the city and the mainland this year has...

Politics

3 w. ago Hong Kong retains No 3 rank as global financial hub, behind New York and London

Hong Kong maintained its position as the world’s third-ranked financial hub, narrowing the gap with leading cities New York and London, according to the latest Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) report on Thursday. The report, which is published twice a year, said Hong Kong’s overall rating rose 4 points, just 1 point below London and 2 points behind top-ranked New York. “This ranking is not an endpoint, but a validation of our strategy” said Benjamin Hung, chairman of the Financial Services...

Politics

4 w. ago Hong Kong bankers pack luxury hotels near offices for typhoon trading

Hong Kong’s bankers and traders hunkered down at home or booked hotels near their offices as Super Typhoon Ragasa descended on the Asian financial hub. The big international banks, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and HSBC Holdings, told most employees to work from home before the typhoon unleashed a deluge of rain and sustained winds of up to 195 kilometres (121 miles) per hour early on Wednesday. Ragasa marked the biggest test yet for a change implemented last year by the Hong Kong...

Society

4 w. ago US ‘sexpert’ deported from Bali for hosting intimacy retreat on tourist visa

An American woman has been deported from Indonesia’s resort island of Bali for allegedly hosting a sex-themed retreat while on a tourist visa, in the latest example of authorities cracking down on foreign nationals flouting immigration rules. Immigration officials said 44-year-old Jennelle Raynette Gordon, a self-styled “sexpert” from California, had been conducting commercial activities in violation of her visa conditions. The event, dubbed the “Intimacy Mastery Retreat”, offered classes on...

Politics