Asia-Pacific

Tokyo is increasingly beating Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore for IPO listings.

BlackRock received the license in June 2021 as the first foreign financial institution to operate a wholly owned China subsidiary, BlackRock Fund Management. 

New digital infrastructures kept trade flowing, even during the pandemic’s first year.

The public face of Singapore’s largely successful Covid-19 response is now in charge of the finance ministry.

Capitalism is old news in China but minority shareholders' rights are relatively new.

Toshiba shareholders voted for an independent probe into allegations that investors were pressured against pursuing a management shake-up at last summer’s annual general meeting.

Reshuffling at the top of Vietnam's leadership structure unlikely to lead to policy change.

Citigroup will focus instead on wealth management and its higher margins.

ESG is not new to China, but now China’s government is actively engaging in this area. 

The Asian Development Bank is holding its annual meeting remotely this month—for just the second time in its history. Covid-19 recovery and sustainability will be key topics.

Foreign direct investors in its mining industry are apprehensive on account of Magufuli’s resource-nationalist policies.

The Philippine central bank is helping commercial banks get rid of bad loans to help jumpstart an economic recovery.

India joins China, Russia, and the U.S. in offering the world its own Covid-19 vaccine.

China surges past the U.S. as the top destination for foreign direct investment.

The fallout from the Juukan Gorge scandal has put executives at other mining companies on alert.

The world is watching to see if Australia succeeds in making Big Tech pay publishers for the content they profit from.

One of the strongest economies in Asia, Taiwan did relatively well in 2020, both economically and in handling the pandemic. The strength of its tech sector represents both an opportunity and a challenge for the near future, as do potential global and regional trade developments. Leaders from the Central Bank of Taiwan and five banks active on the island took up these topics and more in a recent Global Finance roundtable.

Tokyo is reviving ambitions to be Asia’s top global financial hub. Many factors, including the country’s fully diversified economy and high level of household savings, favor the effort. But will it work this time around?

Stuart Wood, a founding partner of design agency Missouri Creative in London, points to Asia’s rising cultural influence—from K-pop to TikTok—as a soft yet powerful facet of its 21st century leadership.

Editor Andrea Fiano's monthly letter to you, the reader.