Wall Street Journal (October 24)
“After earning big profits at home, Chinese investors are looking abroad for safer assets that offer steady returns. They are shifting their increasingly valuable currency out of China’s expensive property market and into the likes of Manhattan and San Francisco—bargains by comparison.”
Tags: Bargains, China, Investors, Manhattan, Profits, Property markets, Safe assets, San Francisco, Steady returns. Currency
Euromoney (October Issue)
“As investors lament the unsustainable credit boom and reform inertia that has blighted China, India and Indonesia, in particular, in recent years—raising the spectre this summer of a repeat of the 1997 Asia crisis—Singapore has consolidated its status as the region’s competitive dynamo, thanks to a flurry of supply-side reforms, backed by judicious fiscal and monetary policies.” Singapore’s economy is now “the most competitive in the world, according to the World Bank, with the highest income per capita in southeast Asia, outpacing the US in recent years.”“As investors lament the unsustainable credit boom and reform inertia that has blighted China, India and Indonesia, in particular, in recent years—raising the spectre this summer of a repeat of the 1997 Asia crisis—Singapore has consolidated its status as the region’s competitive dynamo, thanks to a flurry of supply-side reforms, backed by judicious fiscal and monetary policies.” Singapore’s economy is now “the most competitive in the world, according to the World Bank, with the highest income per capita in southeast Asia, outpacing the US in recent years.”
Tags: Asia crisis, China, Credit boom, Fiscal policy, India, Indonesia, Investors, Monetary policy, Reform, Singapore, Supply-side reforms
Euromoney (August Issue)
“Singapore’s long drive to become the world’s leading centre for private asset management is gaining momentum as Asia’s wealthy exert greater influence and overseas investors flock to the city state.” Singapore is now a “legitimate rival to Switzerland,” with estimates the island state will overtake the Alpine nation in terms of assets under management by 2015.
Tags: Asia, Asset management, AUM, Influence, Investors, Momentum, Singapore, Switzerland, Wealthy
Financial Times (August 19)
Auditors bear some blame for the financial crisis, yet little has been done to improve the quality of their audits. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has now proposed more detailed disclosure to highlight items of concern, even when a company passes the audit. “The Securities and Exchange Commission, which has the final say, should adopt the PCAOB’s proposal. This would match similar rules passed by the UK’s Financial Reporting Council…. Pass-fail cannot distinguish accounts that pass with flying colours and those that barely scrape by. Investors deserve better – and investors are auditors’ true constituency even if managers are their employers.”
Tags: Auditors, Audits, Disclosure, Financial Crisis, Financial Reporting Council, Investors, Pass-fail, PCAOB, Quality, Rules, SEC, UK
Institutional Investor (August Issue)
“Investors confront the risk of a carbon bubble fueled by stranded oil and gas assets” should major governments decide to impose strict carbon legislation to combat climate change. One recent report asserts that “to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius between now and 2050, only 20 percent of the world’s fossil fuel reserves can be extracted and burned.”
Tags: Carbon, Climate change, Extraction, Fossil fuel, Gas, Global temperatures, Governments, Investors, Legislation, Oil, Reserves, Risk
Institutional Investor (August Issue)
“Facing an image problem,” many Chinese companies are retreating from U.S. exchanges. “Frustrated by low valuations and investor skepticism, Chinese companies are increasingly considering delisting from U.S. stock exchanges.” Since 2009, 24 Chinese companies have delisted, often going private, from the NYSE and Nasdaq. Much investor skepticism is directed at companies that utilized reverse mergers to attain their listing, thereby avoiding the scrutiny that would accompany a normal IPO, but the skepticism has tainted even Chinese companies with solid financials.
Tags: China, Companies, Delisting, Image, Investors, IPO, Listing, Nasdaq, NYSE, Private, Reverse mergers, Scrutiny, Skepticism, Stock exchanges, U.S., Valuations
Euromoney (July issue)
“June was the worst month for emerging markets since at least 2008. What about the next five years?… Growth prospects in the US and Japan are improving, just as those in the emerging markets are worsening. That is a fundamental switch to what markets have been used to.” Investors will “no longer ignore China’s lower growth rate, or the simmering political confrontations in Turkey and some other emerging markets.”
Tags: China, Confrontations, Emerging markets, Growth, Investors, Japan, Turkey, U.S.
Euromoney (July issue)
“Market share of financial businesses vital to supporting global economic growth is concentrating rapidly into the hands of a small group of the world’s biggest banks.” During the first half of 2013, the top 10 banks commanded 56% of all investment banking fees. This “does not look a particularly welcome development, increasing as it does, the dependence of corporations, governments, large investors and other banks on just a few providers and along with it the exposure of the global financial system to risk of failure at any of these top 10.”
Tags: Banks, Economic growth, Exposure, Fees, Global financial system, Investment banking, Investors, Market share, Risk
Financial Times (July 10)
“The coalition government’s plan to sell off Royal Mail is ambitious. Even Margaret Thatcher balked at such a course, fearing the political risks outweighed any commercial and financial gains…. Success is far from assured. Nonetheless, Royal Mail has brighter prospects in private hands. Britain will be well served if investors profit from creating a postal service that meets its needs.”
Tags: Government, Investors, Margaret Thatcher, Privatize, Profit, Prospects, Risks, Royal Mail, UK
Institutional Investor (May Issue)
“Investors are clamoring for sell-side research as Japanese equities lead the world in gains…. For quite a long time—decades—most of the economic and financial news out of Japan was negative. Over the past six months or so, it has been overwhelmingly positive. Stock prices are up. Real gross domestic product growth is rising. Investor interest is at its highest level in years.”