Society

Review: Pandering to Beijing has shrinking payback

1 Apr 2022

One difference between the Cold War and current Sino-U.S. tensions is the crowd of capitalists rooting for the communists. In “America Second,” Isaac Stone Fish lambasts the CEOs and lobbyists who take China’s side. Yet the return on sucking up, never high, is falling sharply.

Carl Icahn is attempting to rewrite his legacy

30 Mar 2022

From a favorable documentary to campaigns criticizing how McDonald’s and Kroger treat pigs, the activist is crafting his final chapter. Icahn changed the course of many companies and his investment prowess is undeniable. But a full evaluation of his impact demands a broader lens.

Singapore’s rebalancing is delicate act

30 Mar 2022

The pandemic burnished its safe-haven role for rich Asians, but it is flourishing as a centre for Chinese wealth creation too. Even as changing flows of people, business, and money sharpen social challenges, the pivot is restoring the Lion City’s animal spirits.

EU’s Ukraine currency fix is a problem best shared

29 Mar 2022

The ECB wants the European Union to guarantee potential losses when Ukrainians fleeing the war change their currency into euros. A rival plan would leave this up to national governments. The pooled scheme is much more likely to give Ukrainians hope in the value of the hryvnia.

Sea’s ‘Free Fire’ churns up Singapore-India ties

25 Mar 2022

New Delhi’s ban on the mobile game persists despite diplomatic intervention. The clash, tangled in Chinese tensions, casts a shadow over India’s relations with one of its biggest foreign investors. Rising nationalist sentiment on both sides will make rifts harder to heal.

Hong Kong’s Star Ferry deserves tycoon lifeline

18 Mar 2022

Lockdowns have put the Victoria Harbour icon into dire financial straits. Local moguls like family-controlled parent Wharf group are keen to help the city through tough times. Keeping the boats afloat would preserve a slice of history and provide some hope for the future.

China’s pandemic playbook runs low on pages

14 Mar 2022

Financial hubs Shanghai and Shenzhen are locking down as infections surge. Recycling tough policies from 2020 will put the “around 5.5%” annual growth target even further out of reach. Living with the virus would be economically stimulating, but politically embarrassing.

Refugee bonds can keep humanitarian corridors open

11 Mar 2022

Europe says 7 mln Ukrainians may flee Russia’s invasion. The 2015 refugee crisis showed migrants can boost workforces and economies. But integrating new arrivals is expensive. Impact bonds can pay for the upfront resettlement burden, limiting quarrels between host nations.

Korea’s market upgrade would draw virtuous circle

8 Mar 2022

Seoul may relax currency rules and short-selling curbs to help win developed-market status from index provider MSCI. Even one of this week’s presidential candidates is pushing for the upgrade. Some will resent losing such protection, but the broader benefits are clear.

Wall Street hyperbole washes up in Sydney storms

4 Mar 2022

The New South Wales premier called this week’s torrent a “one-in-a-1,000-year event”. It evokes Goldman CFOs ascribing improbable standard deviations to choppy markets. Such quips, like the terms drought and natural disaster, mischaracterise risk and obscure needed action.

For China, living with Covid starts in Hong Kong

3 Mar 2022

Beijing may be softening its zero-tolerance stance. A large unvaccinated elderly population and tight hospital capacity remain big risks. But lessons from the global financial hub, now grappling with surging infections, provide a case study for China's eventual reopening.

Hong Kong is failing Chinese migrants

25 Feb 2022

Departures by the financial hub’s vocal but tiny population of Westerners have monopolised headlines. Less obvious but more important are professionals from the mainland. The city, long a haven for Chinese people fleeing chaos in the north, is fast losing its allure.

Besieged Hong Kong fires loud stimulus cannon

24 Feb 2022

As daily Covid-19 infections set new records, Beijing is pressing the city to quickly curb the outbreak. But Hong Kong lacks the systems and ways required to implement China’s strict control model. The city’s $22 bln relief package attempts to balance its conflicting realities.

Shackled woman’s plight helps China find S in ESG

18 Feb 2022

Uproar over a mother found chained in a shed, a suspected trafficking victim, has the financial blogosphere in a rage as some call for a boycott of the local government’s bonds. A capital movement targeting social injustice could move prices, but only if Beijing lets it.

Rich stocks have yet to feel cost-of-living crisis

16 Feb 2022

Rising inflation and higher energy bills are hitting consumers. UK punters in particular look vulnerable, given uneven savings and tax hikes. Mass belt-tightening could mean fewer holidays and less spending on luxuries like streaming, hurting companies from Ryanair to BT.

Rio’s culture rot puts investors on the spot, too

14 Feb 2022

The miner’s endemic racism, sexism and bullying is a wider wake-up call. Shareholders tend only to push firms for board diversity and equal pay. Yet a dysfunctional workplace runs deeper, affecting earnings and even M&A. It’s time social failings got some climate-style activism.

Review: Hollywood’s China tragedy, in three acts

11 Feb 2022

In Erich Schwartzel's "Red Carpet", Tinseltown spots a lucrative opportunity, then starts a decades-long courtship of what becomes the world's biggest box office. Now Disney and rivals face a hostile Beijing and rising nationalism. It's a classic in the cautionary tale genre.

Viewsroom: Spotify, Peloton and failed chip deals

10 Feb 2022

Neil Young’s podcast protests have shone a light on a potential flaw in Spotify’s business model, says Liam Proud. Peloton highlights the danger of giving company founders too much voting power, Rob Cyran argues. And semiconductor M&A gives global antitrust regulators agita.

Capital Calls: Antitrust game of chicken

31 Jan 2022

Concise views on global finance: President Joe Biden’s administration is hypersensitive to mergers that reduce competition. Sectors that have also experienced inflation may be top of the hit list – like poultry production.

Capital Calls: Blackstone, German chips, Guy Hands

27 Jan 2022

Concise views on global finance: The $140 bln group braces for falling asset values and rising interest rates; Berlin sends the wrong signal by ignoring a 4.4 bln euro offer for wafer maker Siltronic; Britain seeks to reverse the financier’s lucrative 1996 housing deal.