Asia-Pacific

  REGIONAL FOCUS ASIA       Asia’s economic powerhouses are shifting to a new economic model. The transition will be painful—but will also pay huge dividends. By Thomas Clouse Asia has played a starring role in the story of ...

CHINA     Competition between Beijing and Shanghai to become China’s financial center intensified as Beijing officials launched a road show to lure European financial institutions to the capital. Although Shanghai is home to one of China’s two stock exchanges, ...

On track: China's stimulus package will boost railroad investment China is pouring money into railroads and energy production as the implementation of the country’s 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package moves forward. Urban fixed asset investment grew by 26.5% ...

China Overseas Land & Investment (COLI), a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering, could be a beneficiary of China’s economic stimulus package. China’s largest developer by market value, COLI also focuses on infrastructure investment. The Hong Kong-listed developer is controlled ...

Open for business: "Off-limits" investment sectors opened up. The Indian government revised its foreign investment policy guidelines in mid-February, with a changed methodology for computing foreign equity holdings in Indian companies. According to the new guidelines, any equity held by ...

As economic growth tails off, China's unemployment level is rising sharply. China’s economic growth is tailing off as feared. Although annual growth in 2008 was 9%, fourth-quarter growth slowed to a seven-year low of 6.9% year-on-year, according to preliminary estimates ...

Wen Jiabao:May be preparing ground for major policy shift Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, has had a lot to say about US treasury bonds and the relative value of the yuan lately. Perhaps he misses his strategic economic dialogue with former ...

Company To Watch: Indofood Sukses Makmur/indonesia Low commodity prices are hurting Indonesia’s export earnings, but they could benefit Indofood Sukses Makmur, one of the world’s largest makers of instant noodles, commonly known as ramen noodles. With about 238 million people, ...

Electoral gains: Poll-related spending will help boost India's economy in 2009 According to a consensus taken from a group of prominent Indian economists, including those representing the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, J.P. Morgan India and S&P; Asia Pacific, the ...

DR NEWS Pune, India-based Suzlon Energy, the world’s fifth-largest maker of wind turbines, said it received approval from Indian regulatory authorities to raise up to $370 million through the issuance of depositary receipts overseas. The company has not yet decided ...

AFRICA REGIONAL WINNER Standard Bank COUNTRY WINNER Angola BES Angola Botswana Standard Chartered Bank Botswana Cote d’Ivoire Ecobank Ethiopia NIB International Bank Gambia Trust Bank Ghana Ghana Commercial Bank Guinea International Commercial Bank Kenya Barlcays Bank Kenya Libya Al-Wahda Bank ...

GLOBAL BANKS Corporate Bank JPMorgan Chase Consumer Bank HSBC Private Bank Credit Suisse Asset Management State Street Global Advisors Custody The Bank of New York Mellon Investment Bank Goldman Sachs Cash Management Citi Trade Finance BNP Paribas Foreign Exchange Deutsche ...

BANK CATEGORIES City Commercial Ningbo City Commercial Bank Credit Card China Merchants Bank Mortgage Loans China Construction Bank (CCB) SME Lending, Domestic Bank Bank of Communications SME Lending, Foreign Bank Standard Chartered Corporate Lending Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ...

INDIA     Caught in a jam: Many of India’s key indicators are slumping Following the revelation of accounting fraud by Satyam Computers, India’s fourth-largest IT services company, the stock recorded one of the worst drops in Indian stock market ...

STARS OF CHINA Over the past decade, China’s government has been working on an ambitious plan to improve the health, transparency and effectiveness of its country’s sprawling banking system. Weighed down with bad loans, mired in bureaucracy and often plagued ...

INDIA     Satyam: Facing disaster When Satyam Computers’ founder, chairman & CEO Ramalinga Raju revealed the depth of the accounting fraud he had perpetuated for more than a decade, investors were left with more questions than answers, particularly about ...

CHINA       Bank of China: Foreign investors cashing in stakes   China will offer tax cuts and subsidies to spur its steel and automotive industries, the country’s State Council announced on January 14. The government will limit expansion ...

ASIA-PACIFIC     Asia looks to cash in on its emerging Islamic financial center status. The Asia-Pacific region already accounts for 60% of the world’s Islamic banking assets and could be a center of growth for the shariah-compliant finance industry ...

  Policymakers in Taiwan are pulling out all the stops in their response to the global economic slump.     Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou: Promoting better relations with China.   Taiwan is an economic success story. The island, despite political ...

UNILEVER CLEANS UP ACT OVER PALM OIL     Unilever Indonesia recently opened a factory for skin-care products in Cikarang, West Java. The factory joins seven others operated by Unilever in the country, where Lever Brothers opened a soap factory ...