London to Lose Title of World's Finance Capital, Study Warns
THE GUARDIAN: Rival hubs such as New York and Hong Kong will push beleaguered City into third place by 2015, CEBR forecasts

London can expect to lose its crown as the leading global centre for high finance this year amid a barrage of City job cuts, falling bonuses and competition from rival hubs led by New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, according to a study.

By 2015 the explosion in jobs in Hong Kong will have pushed the Square Mile into third place on a league table of international financial centres, says the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

The CEBR also had more immediate bad news for London's bankers, suggesting combined City bonus pools are likely to slip to £4.4bn this year, down from £6.75bn for 2011 and £11.56bn in 2008.

Such will be the rise in finance job numbers in the far east that London is expected to only narrowly employ more financial workers than Singapore, the region's number two financial centre, in three years' time, the CEBR predicts. » | Simon Bowers | Sunday, November 11, 2012

Global Crisis Moves East as China Suffers Rapid Downturn

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: China’s industrial output is contracting at the fastest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis, with knock-on effects spreading across the Far East.

“It just keeps getting worse,” said Alistair Thornton and Xianfang Ren from IHS Global Insight. “The government has underestimated the pace of the slowdown and is behind the curve.”

The HSBC/Markit manufacturing index for China fell to 47.6 in August, the lowest since the onset of Great Recession in late 2008. Inventories are rising. The index for new export orders fell to the lowest since March 2009. “Beijing must step up policy easing to stabilise growth,” said Hongbin Qu from HSBC.

China’s official PMI manufacturing index – weighted to big companies – also fell through the contraction line of 50, though services are holding up better.

Evidence of a hard landing over the summer is becoming clearer. Rail volumes fell 8.2pc in July from a year before. The Japanese group Komatsu said its exports of hydraulic excavators to China – a proxy gauge for Chinese construction – fell 48pc in August from a year before.

The twin effect of China’s downturn and Europe’s double-dip recession has turned into a full-blown shock for much of Asia. Hong Kong and Singapore both contracted in the second quarter and are probably in technical recession. Read on and comment » | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Monday, September 03, 2012

Who's Afraid of Islamic Finance?
THE ATLANTIC: While Tunisia's Islamist party tries to downplay the role of Islamic finance, Hong Kong welcomes it with open arms. Why?

Tunisia's newly elected Islamist government said this week that it will preserve the nation's pre-revolutionary secular constitution and financial structures. Far away, in secular and wealthy Hong Kong, the local government is pushing to establish a platform for Islamic finance in hopes of becoming the Dubai of the Far East. What's going on here?

Witness the power of marketing. Tunisia's main source of tourism and exports is Europe, where perennial outcries against Muslim immigrants and sharia have incited violence among Europe's anti-Islamic extremists in recent years. Hong Kong, together with the Greater China Region, is courting the Muslim business world to quench its thirst for natural fuels. As a result, we have an odd juxtaposition: An Islamist regime rejecting Islamic finance while a secular capitalist juggernaut claims to welcome it. » | Massoud Hayoun | Friday, March 30, 2012

Luxury Storefronts at Rock-bottom Prices
Pedestrians walk past the Versace store on Fifth Avenue in New York. Photograph: The Globe and Mail
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Compared to Paris, New York, even Athens, Canada’s best retail spaces come cheap

Rents for prime retail space in Canada’s swankiest fashion districts may seem high by Canadian standards, but the most expensive storefronts in the country are still being rented at bargain-basement prices compared to other global centres.

Montreal’s Saint Catherine Street and Toronto’s Bloor Street districts were the priciest in the country, with average lease rates at $294.12 (U.S.) a square foot. The cost of space placed the cities in a tie for 32nd place in the world, sandwiched between Honolulu and Amsterdam.

Globally, space along the Champs Élysées in Paris was the most expensive at $1,255.90 a square foot. New York’s Fifth Avenue, Hong Kong’s Russell Street and London’s Bond Street all saw rents higher than $1,100 a square foot. >>> Steve Ladurantaye | Monday, June 07, 2010

Sarah Palin's Pitch Leaves Hong Kong Unimpressed
TIMES ONLINE: Sarah Palin’s first ever visit to East Asia began with a monologue that invoked the spirit of Margaret Thatcher, sounded “unmistakably” like a pitch for the 2012 presidency and was described by several members of the audience as “long, humorless and George W Bush-like”.

Described by some as “safe” and by others as “uncomfortable”, the speech called for closer ties between the United States and China, and attacked the recent decision of the Administration of Barack Obama to impose heavy tariffs on imported Chinese tyres.

But it also warned of China’s own “internal contradictions” and America’s need to stand up against oppression.

It was a rare foreign outing for the former Vice-Presidential candidate who committed a series of foreign policy gaffes during last year’s campaign. She claimed to be familiar with Russia, thanks to Alaska’s proximity to the country, and had only visited Kuwait and Germany before - on both occasions to meet US troops stationed there.

The former Alaska governor’s speech was delivered in Hong Kong to the CLSA Asia Pacific Markets Forum - a lavish annual beano where over 1,000 of the world’s most astute investors come to hear the views of the foremost political and business minds on earth.

“I’m going to call it like I see it and I will share with you candidly a view right from Main Street, Main Street USA,” the former vice-Presidential candidate declared, before launching into prepared remarks on the Alaskan fishing industry.

Several audience members reportedly walked out of Ms Palin’s speech 30 minutes before the end, citing “more important things to do” or describing the talk as “too partisan and too much like a speech at the Republican convention”.

One senior fund manager told The Times that the 80-minute lecture, and the lack of an opportunity to fire any questions at Ms Palin, was a disappointment. “You would think that with her team of speechwriters and a supposedly media-free environment Palin could have afforded to be either funny or thought-provoking, but she was neither,” she said. >>> Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent | Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Asia Stocks Fall on Growing US Economic Fears
TIMES ONLINE: Asian stocks fell heavily on Tuesday following last night's sharp decline in American shares. Investors responded to fears that the world's largest economy is sinking further into recession and speculation that the US Government may be forced to buy stakes in ailing banks, despite assurances from Washington that lenders would not be nationalised.

Japan's Nikkei Index fell by 1.5 per cent to a four-month low, narrowly avoiding a slide to below 7,000 for the first time in 26 years, closing at 7,268.56. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 461.46 points, or 3.5 per cent, to end the day at 12,713.64. Last night, the Dow Jones industrial average fell to an 11-year low, losing 250.89 points to 7,114.78.

Japanese shares remained in the red for the day despite hints from Kaoru Yosano, the newly appointed Finance Minister, that the Government may be working on more measures to support the domestic share market. "The side-effects of falling stock prices are worse than expected,” said Mr Yosano. “We are witnessing many negative wealth effects with impaired assets held by banks and insurance firms.”

Japan's Government is understood to be mulling over plans to buy falling stocks with money from the public purse in an effort to keep prices buoyant. >>> Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent | Tuesday, February 24, 2009

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