https://www.scmp.com/rss/13647/feed Stephen Vines is a Hong Kong based writer and journalist. He has worked in Asia for The Guardian‚ The Daily Telegraph‚ and The Independent‚ and was a consultant editor for The Asia Times. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Usually, the Hong Kong government is discreet enough to allow the passage of time before ignoring the outcome of public consultation exercises, assuming they are not among those devised to predetermine their outcome. However, in the case of one of the biggest of these exercises, the consultation on land supply, the chief executive not only pre-empted the publication of its findings but opted for a solution that went way beyond anything proposed in the list of options presented to the public. So... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2169826/hong-kong-public-consultations-are-effective?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2169826/hong-kong-public-consultations-are-effective?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Oct 2018 03:00:15 +0000 One thing no one expected from Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s policy address was a frontal attack on Hong Kong’s long-standing commitment to free and open markets. However, in announcing a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes, she has delivered a mighty blow to this commitment, while providing a rationale that defies logic. The ban is based on some seriously flawed arguments if indeed, as claimed, it has arisen from public health concerns. Those promoting the ban have overexcitedly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2168894/hong-kongs-ban-e-cigarettes-absurd-if-vaping-bad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2168894/hong-kongs-ban-e-cigarettes-absurd-if-vaping-bad?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Oct 2018 03:30:30 +0000 Yet again, a victory for minority shareholders has been hailed as being a good thing. However, the recent rather significant “victory” of the minorities over the board of the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever raises as many questions as it answers. Unilever’s board had been trying to streamline its complex corporate structure arising from the merger, 89 years ago, of a British soap maker and a Dutch margarine company. The aim was to consolidate the company in the Netherlands. No one... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2167681/unilevers-david-vs-goliath-battle-was-victory?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2167681/unilevers-david-vs-goliath-battle-was-victory?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Oct 2018 02:45:00 +0000 Can the electric car company Tesla flourish without Elon Musk as chairman, or, to put it in another way, can Tesla survive with Musk in control? What’s happening at Tesla raises this question as its volatile, charismatic and inspired founder has yet again landed in the brown stuff. He is not alone, too, as similar circumstances face many other companies that are dominated by a single personality. The jury is out on what will happen at Tesla after an agreement was made between Musk and the US... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2166618/elon-musk-visionary-leader-or-liability-teslas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2166618/elon-musk-visionary-leader-or-liability-teslas?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Oct 2018 03:30:15 +0000 What on earth has happened to the concept of safe havens in the world of investing? More specifically, why has the performance of the gold price been so lacklustre at a time when political and economic uncertainties are mounting? The list of uncertainties is impressive, ranging from the impact of the ever escalating US-China trade war, the enormous level of political instability in Europe where only one significant country – France – has anything approaching a stable government, and anticipation... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2165695/why-gold-not-glittering-yet-investors-although-all?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2165695/why-gold-not-glittering-yet-investors-although-all?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Sep 2018 02:45:00 +0000 Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor may well have political reasons for extolling the contribution of immigrants to Hong Kong society but it makes a change from the routine immigrant bashing that is high on the political agenda elsewhere in the world. Lam, however, only addressed the issue of immigrants coming to Hong Kong under the daily quota system designed to facilitate family reunions but managed some passing reference to the obvious fact that Hong Kong is an “immigrant society”.... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2164802/immigration-good-business-not-burden-hong-kong-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2164802/immigration-good-business-not-burden-hong-kong-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Sep 2018 05:18:33 +0000 Will the US-China trade war provoke consumer boycotts as the heat rises? The answer in the case of American consumers is almost certainly not because awareness of Chinese brands is extremely low, and although Americans buy vast quantities of Chinese-made goods, many do so with little awareness of where these goods come from, not least because the final assembly of goods essentially made in China often takes place in the US. Chinese consumers, by contrast, tend to be acutely aware of US brands,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2161671/why-consumer-boycotts-us-brands-china-might?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2161671/why-consumer-boycotts-us-brands-china-might?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Aug 2018 05:00:30 +0000 I frankly never imagined I would be writing these words, but it does seem that US President Donald Trump has a point. The point being that he has urged the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to scrap the requirement for listed companies to produce earnings reports on a three-monthly basis. Moreover, and things are getting seriously weird here, Trump’s reasoning is logical and coherent. He says that a move to six-monthly reporting would save money and increase flexibility. He bases... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2160697/trump-gets-it-right-once-quarterly-corporate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2160697/trump-gets-it-right-once-quarterly-corporate?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Aug 2018 02:00:45 +0000 What is it that Elon Musk, Tesla’s boss, did not understand when he sought a public listing for his company? Clearly, he seems confused over the meaning of the word “public” because he is now complaining about the “enormous pressure” from his “public” shareholders. Musk claims he is being pressured to take decisions that may not be “necessarily right for the long term”. Yet, what might be described as shareholders’ short termism is hardly new, nor is it the case that shareholders have only... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2159646/why-elon-musk-richard-branson-and-michael-dell?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2159646/why-elon-musk-richard-branson-and-michael-dell?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Aug 2018 02:30:15 +0000 Marmalade made the front page of this newspaper’s business section last week. This came as no surprise in the Vines household, where marmalade makes a daily appearance on the breakfast table, but the more prosaic reason was that this fine product has become a bit player in the Sino-US trade war. The minds designing the new US tariff regime for Chinese imports decided to include marmalade in the list of 7,000 categories of Chinese products targeted for tariffs. As a mere US$12,330 worth of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2158774/marmalade-however-you-eat-it-and-wherever-you-get-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2158774/marmalade-however-you-eat-it-and-wherever-you-get-it?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Aug 2018 22:00:15 +0000 What is the difference between Nestlé’s Kit Kat and the Toblerone bar manufactured by Mondelez? Existential questions of taste, texture and maybe even cocoa content can obviously come into play when answering this question. But considerations of this kind are for chocolate aficionados. Here on the business pages, perhaps lamentably, less lyrical matters must be considered. The reason being that the European Court of Justice has recently decided that there will be no European Union-wide trademark... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2157648/kit-kat-starbucks-and-posh-spice-rulings-show?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2157648/kit-kat-starbucks-and-posh-spice-rulings-show?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Aug 2018 04:00:45 +0000 DJ D-Sol is better known in banking circles as David Solomon, the high flier who is about to become Goldman Sachs’ next chief executive. Aside from moonlighting as an electronic dance disc jockey, Solomon is partial to adventurous sports, collects fine wines and has a lively interest in gastronomy. In other words, he has quite a life outside banking. Yet Solomon is also regarded as being full on when it comes to the banking business, so has clearly found a way of having a varied life away from... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2156663/dj-goldmans-next-ceo-paint-churchill-golf-deal-maker-good-leader-has?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2156663/dj-goldmans-next-ceo-paint-churchill-golf-deal-maker-good-leader-has?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jul 2018 08:00:15 +0000 When Mr and Mrs Joe Average fill their Walmart shopping carts with goods made in China, they are most definitely adding to the massive trade imbalance between the US and China that so aggravates (the admittedly easily aggravated) President Donald Trump. They are not, however, consciously setting out to buy Chinese goods; indeed, the place of origin of many products is often hard to find, assuming buyers are interested, which is rarely the case. What really concerns them is the availability of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2155684/forgotten-casualty-trade-war-you-consumer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2155684/forgotten-casualty-trade-war-you-consumer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Jul 2018 05:30:00 +0000 Hong Kong’s senior citizens are being officially invited to take a gamble on their longevity. If they assume they will have a long life, the new public annuity scheme might well prove attractive. The scheme, launched this week, more or less amounts to being a self-funded pension plan for people above the age of 65. The way it works is that participants invest a lump sum with the government and, in return, are paid a guaranteed fixed monthly sum for the rest of their lives. Profits, such as they... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2154747/hong-kongs-public-annuity-scheme-offers-elderly-no?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2154747/hong-kongs-public-annuity-scheme-offers-elderly-no?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jul 2018 05:03:58 +0000 It is quite possible that the name Kazuo Kashio will not mean much to people in Hong Kong but they are almost certain to be familiar with the astonishing range of products he and his brothers brought to the market during his long reign as CEO of the Casio Computer Company. He died last month, leaving a remarkable legacy. Casio is best known for its range of electronic calculators, with sales exceeding 1.5 billion units. Success in this field did not make Casio complacent as it moved onto other... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2153697/what-henry-ford-george-eastman-and-kazuo-kashio-had?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2153697/what-henry-ford-george-eastman-and-kazuo-kashio-had?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Jul 2018 07:00:30 +0000 Has the Hong Kong government really decided to embrace the 21st century with new retirement policies for its staff? If so, it is just about managing to catch up with the private sector, which recognised the contributions made by older employees many years ago. Yet even outside government, Hong Kong employers are lagging behind in recognising the need to make better use of older employees. This is a somewhat urgent matter, given the projected shortage of labour. Last week, the Executive Council... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2152693/hong-kong-civil-service-opens-door-wider-older?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2152693/hong-kong-civil-service-opens-door-wider-older?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Jun 2018 07:02:17 +0000 The initials MTR are supposed to stand for Mass Transit Railway but nowadays the words Management Traumatised by Responsibility seem more appropriate. The people who run this company appear to be largely focused on how to avoid responsibility for the growing scandal involving delays in construction, faults in construction, cover-ups and safety threats. In so doing, they are inadvertently providing a classic case study of what happens when corporate responsibility and crisis management go badly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2151576/mtr-managements-buck-passing-over-railway-scandals-lesson?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2151576/mtr-managements-buck-passing-over-railway-scandals-lesson?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Jun 2018 06:00:30 +0000 Here’s a thing: hedge fund managers’ earnings are soaring while hedge fund performance is heading south; indeed they’ve been delivering pretty dismal returns for at least 16 years. We’ll get back to figures soon but let’s start with the obvious question of why this perverse correlation exists, because it makes no sense. Hedge fund managers, a group generally untroubled by the demands of modesty, have a number of superstars in their ranks and investors are attracted to them like fleas to a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2150535/dear-hedge-fund-investors-youre-probably-not-next-george?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2150535/dear-hedge-fund-investors-youre-probably-not-next-george?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Jun 2018 06:02:51 +0000 Was Walt Disney simply protecting its business by abruptly scrapping its highly successful Roseanne television sitcom or was it genuinely expressing outrage in response to aggressively racist comments by its star Roseanne Barr? Hopefully, the answer is that it was doing both. Barr tweeted that Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to president Barack Obama, looked like a cross between an ape and the Muslim Brotherhood, thus managing to combine anti-black racism with Islamaphobia. Roseanne has... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2149456/disneys-swift-cancellation-tv-show-roseanne-reveals-racism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2149456/disneys-swift-cancellation-tv-show-roseanne-reveals-racism?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Jun 2018 04:30:45 +0000 Rarely does an event occur that so perfectly tells us so much about the role of government, the role of business and how they impact citizens caught in the middle. Members of the Yau Tsim Mong District Council almost certainly did not intend to provide us with an opportunity to contemplate this nexus, but should be thanked all the same. About two weeks ago, they voted to shut down the pedestrian zone in the busy shopping area of Mong Kok’s Sai Yeung Choi Street South. They voted to do this to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2148424/hong-kongs-decision-shut-out-mong-kok-street-performers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2148424/hong-kongs-decision-shut-out-mong-kok-street-performers?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 May 2018 05:44:04 +0000 There is only one thing more worrisome than the appearance of sporting matters on the business pages of newspapers; this is when they also start appearing in the crime reporting sections. Fifa, which presides over international soccer, and is one of the world’s most powerful sporting institutions, has seen its name prominently splashed over both these news sections.  It should be noted in parenthesis that the virus of corruption has affected many other sports, so football does not stand alone in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2147355/more-money-football-means-more-scandals-less-local?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2147355/more-money-football-means-more-scandals-less-local?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 May 2018 07:00:15 +0000 The Mandatory Provident Fund is the gift that never stops giving for fund managers but, for everyone else, it remains a dud and, as a new report shows, things actually get worse for customers after alleged improvements have been made.  The report from Convoy Financial Services, which monitors MPF performance, found that the “default” low fee fund scheme launched last April underperformed other MPF funds, returning an average of 2.82 per cent in the 13 months to April, compared to healthy... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2146312/dismal-returns-mpfs-low-fee-fund-are-symptom-schemes-overall?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2146312/dismal-returns-mpfs-low-fee-fund-are-symptom-schemes-overall?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 May 2018 05:15:12 +0000 There was something rather magnificent or maybe simply annoying about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s explosion during the latest quarterly earnings call when he castigated an analyst for asking “boring, bonehead questions”.  The analyst wanted to know whether Tesla would be seeking to raise more capital, an arguably reasonable concern as the company is burning through US$1 billion per quarter with the prospects of profitability somewhere on the far horizon.  Musk’s response triggered an equally explosive... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2145303/elon-musks-bonehead-moment-show-tensions-between-visionary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2145303/elon-musks-bonehead-moment-show-tensions-between-visionary?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 May 2018 05:30:00 +0000 Alongside death and taxation, one of the few certainties in life is that Hong Kong government consultation exercises always end in failure. Failure, that is, in satisfying the public over their outcome. This is why the current fandango, designed to seek public views on making land available for housing, has no chance of succeeding.  Stanley Wong Yuen-fai, the chairman of the task force supervising this exercise, says he wants to hear from the 80 per cent of the people who are not directly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2144289/public-consultation-land-supply-doomed-fail-just-ones-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2144289/public-consultation-land-supply-doomed-fail-just-ones-it?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 May 2018 08:16:51 +0000 Things had been pretty peachy over at Shenzhen-based ZTE, the world’s fourth-largest telecommunications equipment supplier. Then, suddenly, the company learned that a ban was to be imposed on US companies providing it with supplies, and possibly intellectual property, a crippling and abrupt blow to ZTE’s supply chain.  The news caused its shares to be suspended, amidst dire predictions of the consequences.  It is quite possible that ZTE’s management had braced themselves to become an incidental... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2143243/expect-unexpected-zte-and-starbucks-experiences-offer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2143243/expect-unexpected-zte-and-starbucks-experiences-offer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Apr 2018 06:15:45 +0000 One of the many things that the big investment banks never saw coming was do-it-yourself IPOs but, as this month’s successful listing by the music streaming company Spotify Technology SA has shown, it most certainly can be done. Basically, DIY listings involve launching an initial public offering without underwriters, depriving investment banks of mouth-watering fees and the power to set an opening price.  Also absent from this launch were the company’s founders, who are generally to be found... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2142213/spotifys-ipo-was-success-never-mind-its-loss-making-company?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2142213/spotifys-ipo-was-success-never-mind-its-loss-making-company?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Apr 2018 06:14:55 +0000 What to do when the person who founded a company has done something to bring his creation into disrepute, especially when this individual personifies the company’s image? This is the question facing British-based WPP, the world’s largest advertising company, after the board asked an independent law firm to investigate alleged wrongdoing by its chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell. The nature of the allegations has not been disclosed, but Sir Martin has “unreservedly” denied any wrongdoing. Unlike... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2141211/mark-zuckerberg-harvey-weinstein-founder-ceos-can-become-too?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2141211/mark-zuckerberg-harvey-weinstein-founder-ceos-can-become-too?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Apr 2018 06:15:15 +0000 There might just be a way of giving Hong Kong’s least wealthy people a real opportunity to share the considerable wealth that is weighing down the government’s coffers. It may indeed be the only way, given official aversion to fundamental poverty alleviation. But before we come to this idea, let’s consider the debacle that rejoiced in the name of a budget. Having insisted that there was no question of including so-called handouts in the budget, the financial secretary was forced to eat his words... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2140210/its-huge-reserves-hong-kong-should-consider-cash-inheritance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2140210/its-huge-reserves-hong-kong-should-consider-cash-inheritance?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Apr 2018 05:11:45 +0000 It’s the question that is being asked with greater urgency as markets become more volatile, political shenanigans loom large and interest rates are on the move: what is likely to be the best investment strategy in these circumstances? The answer is that only fools are certain of what do at any given time and that certainty mutates into something even more foolish when accompanied by a refusal to learn anything from history. That’s why many investors look forward to the annual publication of the... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2139230/nothing-beats-equities-hundred-years-history-proves-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2139230/nothing-beats-equities-hundred-years-history-proves-it?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Mar 2018 03:31:34 +0000 One thing is certain about Li Ka-shing’s retirement from the Cheung Kong groups’ two leading companies, namely, despite announcing that he is stepping down Li will continue to be the most important person in the room when any major decision is made. Indeed this is the major reason why the share prices of the two companies only dropped modestly after last week’s announcement. Investors simply assumed that there would be little change. Yet, officially, Li will have no title other than that of... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2138149/investors-li-ka-shing-companies-now-face-big-unknown-second?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2138149/investors-li-ka-shing-companies-now-face-big-unknown-second?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Mar 2018 03:15:45 +0000 In practically any other field of commerce, if 40 per cent of those engaged in the business were making a hash of it there would be nothing short of an outcry – but not when it comes to the dull-yet-vital world of auditing. A deafening silence has greeted the findings of a comprehensive survey highlighting this pretty devastating conclusion. The survey comes from the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators, which recently completed a review of 918 audits of listed companies around... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2137119/oddities-audit-and-what-needs-be-done-put-things-right?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2137119/oddities-audit-and-what-needs-be-done-put-things-right?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Mar 2018 04:47:00 +0000 Underwhelmed seems to be the most appropriate adjective for describing the response to the usually much-hyped Mobile World Congress which ended last week. As a dedicated sceptic of all things joining the words smart and phone I cannot pretend to be experiencing much else besides schadenfreude. The pleasure intensified on learning that one of the stars of this lacklustre show was the Nokia 8110 Matrix phone, which is really little more than a revival of the old banana phones much derided by those... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2136062/are-smartphones-making-us-smarter-or-more-stupid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2136062/are-smartphones-making-us-smarter-or-more-stupid?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Mar 2018 03:00:45 +0000 What happens to a fast-food chain that specialises in chicken but has no chicken to sell? This sounds like a version of the “why did the chicken cross the road” joke but for KFC’s UK subsidiary it’s far from being a joke because distribution problems forced two thirds of its outlets to temporarily close as chicken supplies dried up. The problem was that KFC’s new distribution agent, DHL, somehow managed to cock things up, or as the company previously known as Kentucky Fried Chicken ruefully... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2135053/everybody-makes-mistakes-deft-touch-can-make-it-quickly-go-away?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2135053/everybody-makes-mistakes-deft-touch-can-make-it-quickly-go-away?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Feb 2018 06:37:42 +0000 The budget will be upon us less than a week from now; observing how it plays out sometimes feels like watching a spoilt child being given a toy that is far too big to be useful. The loving parents have stacks of money but are far from sure what to do with it, so they think the best way of creating a good impression is to dish out a really showy gift. The child feigns delight but soon abandons the toy because it is pretty useless. There are no prizes for guessing where I am going with this,... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2134045/expect-little-next-weeks-hong-kong-budget-you-will-not-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2134045/expect-little-next-weeks-hong-kong-budget-you-will-not-be?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Feb 2018 02:15:30 +0000 Now comes the difficult bit. When the bull run was in full pelt it was relatively easy to make money in the markets, and much easier to brush aside problems. Even Hong Kong’s hapless Mandatory Provident Fund managers did not look too bad and boasted of an average net return of more than 22 per cent last year. Only the churlish would point out that this figure is substantially below the 36 per cent rise in the local stock market in the same period, but at least the MPF’s suckers could claim a... https://www.scmp.com/business/money/markets-investing/article/2133334/bull-run-ends-fund-managers-will-have-job-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/money/markets-investing/article/2133334/bull-run-ends-fund-managers-will-have-job-their?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Feb 2018 06:43:49 +0000 It used to be said that when American stock markets caught a cold, Asian stock markets needed to worry about influenza. The turbulent events of this week on global stock exchanges partially vindicates this adage but something has changed and it’s quite profound, namely that the major Asian markets of today are proving to be less excitable than they used to be. In percentage terms, Asian stock prices this time have fallen pretty much in line with their US counterparts. Compare that with the stock... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2132734/good-news-asia-time-stock-market-flu-evenly-spread?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2132734/good-news-asia-time-stock-market-flu-evenly-spread?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Feb 2018 05:30:00 +0000 Do you have enough money? When John Paul Getty, at the time the richest man in the world, was asked this question he said that he could never have enough. His famous remark has now been worked into a new film about the kidnapping of his grandson, whose release was dependent on cash from Getty who claimed he lacked enough money to pay. Fortunately, most people never experience hostage situations but they often feel like hostage victims as they face demands for money from all sides. Banks want... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2132390/great-money-delusion-we-never-quite-have-enough?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2132390/great-money-delusion-we-never-quite-have-enough?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Feb 2018 05:45:30 +0000 What’s the point of a law that is either impossible to enforce or only capable of arbitrary enforcement? It’s a question that must have occurred to the beleaguered justice secretary Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, who is now very firmly and infamously numbered among law breakers as a result of illegal structures in properties she owns. The law acknowledges no defence on the lines of ‘I’m only doing what others get away with’ yet, as a report in this newspaper has noted, something like one in four... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2131320/justice-secretary-teresa-cheng-yeuk-wah-now-numbered-among-law-breakers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2131320/justice-secretary-teresa-cheng-yeuk-wah-now-numbered-among-law-breakers?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jan 2018 04:26:00 +0000 Do you spend your waking hours pondering the fate of gross domestic product? No, I guess not. Yet if you are working at China’s National Bureau of Statistics, or somewhere in the labyrinth of China’s numerous planning agencies, GDP angst is a big part of your life. The Chinese government recently announced that last year’s GDP growth amounted to 6.9 per cent, the best figure since 2010. Headlines were written and sighs of satisfaction were expelled. This growth figure might even be accurate, or... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2130323/hongkongers-will-tell-you-gdp-capita-not-perfect-gauge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2130323/hongkongers-will-tell-you-gdp-capita-not-perfect-gauge?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jan 2018 05:36:55 +0000 A transaction at the beginning of this year provided an interesting reminder of the somewhat quaint nature of Hong Kong’s retail sector, highlighting how it operates and why it may no longer be able to operate in this way. Marks & Spencer, the British-based retailer, sold its Hong Kong and Macau operation to Dubai-based Al-Futtaim, a long-standing franchise partner. Al-Futtaim will continue to operate under the British retailer’s name, sell its products and follow its format; in other words the... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2128675/speed-change-retailing-business-asking-questions-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2128675/speed-change-retailing-business-asking-questions-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000 Jeremy Grantham, the famous fund manager, vividly describes world markets as being at a ‘melt up’ stage, leading to a spectacular stock market melt down within six months to two years. Grantham is worth listening to, having correctly called both the 2000 and 2008 busts. The chief investment strategist for GMO in Boston is generally known as a market bear and so some believers in the current strength of the markets have taken his remarks as a remarkably bullish view of the near term. “As a... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2127581/famed-us-investment-strategist-jeremy-grantham-says-stocks-could?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2127581/famed-us-investment-strategist-jeremy-grantham-says-stocks-could?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Jan 2018 03:04:17 +0000 Big wishes for the new year are a bit like big wishes for everything – they are rarely fulfilled. So I’m wondering whether it would be possible to start this year with what is really a rather modest wish for Hong Kong’s government to do far less and, in so doing, help both businesses and the public at large. I must admit that this wish has a very strong element of self-interest as it concerns the work of the Food & Environmental Health Department (FEHD), the people who make life as difficult as... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2126621/overzealous-bureaucrats-are-threat-hong-kongs-can-do-business-reputation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2126621/overzealous-bureaucrats-are-threat-hong-kongs-can-do-business-reputation?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Jan 2018 06:15:48 +0000 Thank goodness – the season of goodwill has faded and we can get back to normal, which means being cynical, or maybe just realistic. In this vein, I’d like to offer some reflections on the year that’s about to expire and some thoughts on what’s to come. There’s nothing new under the sun – that famous Old Testament phrase is a reliable guide to the wonderful world of investment, where fads and crazes rise and fall with staggering similarity. This year’s biggest investment craze has definitely... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2125780/what-does-2018-have-store-bitcoin-chinese-growth-and-hong-kong-property?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2125780/what-does-2018-have-store-bitcoin-chinese-growth-and-hong-kong-property?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Dec 2017 04:14:45 +0000 What do you know about the madness of committees? The answer is a lot, if you’ve ever sat on one and not enough if you have not. Committees are everywhere: running businesses, voluntary organisations and of course in government committees proliferate like cockroaches. What they have in common is a notorious propensity for time wasting; a habit of missing the point, and, well known but less commented upon, is a kind of collective insanity that touches people who as individuals are normally quite... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2125033/our-committee-addiction-leading-us-abyss-mediocrity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2125033/our-committee-addiction-leading-us-abyss-mediocrity?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Dec 2017 04:01:21 +0000 For once Hong Kong’s lacklustre financial secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po, had something sensible to say when he declared that there was no reason for the city to follow the United States in cutting taxes. He also made the sensible remark that Hong Kong should not be overreliant on its low tax regime to remain internationally competitive. And, in case anyone has forgotten, let’s remember that with a corporate tax rate of 16.5 per cent, Hong Kong already has one of world’s least demanding tax... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2124090/hong-kong-right-not-follow-us-cutting-taxes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2124090/hong-kong-right-not-follow-us-cutting-taxes?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:34:13 +0000 I really never imagined I would be writing these words – but the plain fact of the matter is that I agree with Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, who says that based on everything he knows he thinks that bitcoin won’t work out and is ’not comfortable with it’, yet reserves the right to be wrong and concedes that it might after all, come to be a kind of currency. Bitcoin traders have a very different view of things, causing the value of the cryptocurrency to rise to... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2123094/bitcoin-debate-rages-so-does-its-price?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2123094/bitcoin-debate-rages-so-does-its-price?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Dec 2017 04:51:14 +0000 The recent arrest in New York of Hong Kong’s former home affairs secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping on bribery charges is spectacular in itself, but the response to the arrest is something else – it is highly disturbing. Ho and the former foreign minister of Senegal, Cheikh Gadio, are accused of bribing Chad’s president and Uganda’s foreign minister to the tune of US$2.9 million on behalf of a subsidiary of the Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC. All parties involved in these allegations deny the... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2122064/what-reaction-patrick-ho-case-says-about-chinas-global-ambitions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2122064/what-reaction-patrick-ho-case-says-about-chinas-global-ambitions?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Nov 2017 03:48:09 +0000 Many people in Hong Kong are employed by companies with overseas head offices. It usually makes no difference to their working lives but some ambitious management types are keen to get over to corporate HQ as often as possible, to make sure that they are not forgotten and to ensure that out of sight does not also mean out of mind – but are they right? Apparently they are, indeed commonsense dictates this should be so but there are caveats and they are not insignificant. But first let’s look at... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2121071/keeping-close-hq-when-youre-other-side-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2121071/keeping-close-hq-when-youre-other-side-world?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Nov 2017 08:12:03 +0000 Declarations that the US and China have signed trade and investment deals worth US$250 billion are almost certainly fake news at best and deception at worst. President Donald Trump in his usual bombastic way described the deals signed in Beijing as being “tremendous, incredible, job-producing agreements”. President Xi Jinping, wisely, declined to echo this hyperbole. The trusty old MOU merely says X or Y will happen if a number of other things come together. It is barely worth the paper it is... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2119969/trumps-us250-billion-deals-china-fake-news-best?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2119969/trumps-us250-billion-deals-china-fake-news-best?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Nov 2017 02:47:21 +0000 Lord Hain believes that HSBC needs to be investigated for “possible criminal conspiracy” over money laundering for South Africa’s Gupta family who, in turn, are alleged to have unlawfully profited from ties to President Jacob Zuma. These allegations against HSBC follow a litany of other controversies that have given the bank an extraordinarily bad name in its London home base. However in Hong Kong, its previous base, the regulatory authorities appear to remain in awe of an organisation that... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2118870/why-are-hong-kong-authorities-still-awe-hsbc?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2118870/why-are-hong-kong-authorities-still-awe-hsbc?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Nov 2017 07:24:20 +0000