https://www.scmp.com/rss/321570/feed Jake van der Kamp has been writing wide-ranging business columns for the South China Morning Post and Sunday Morning Post for more than a decade. A longtime Hong Kong resident, he started as a Post business reporter in 1978, soon made a career change to investment analyst and then returned to the newspaper in 1998 as a financial columnist. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Of the HK$50 billion budgeted [for innovation], HK$20 billion will be earmarked for the first ­ phase of the Hong Kong Shenzhen Innovation ­ and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop, for infrastructure and initial operation and start-up costs. SCMP, March 1 Let’s put some things in perspective here. That HK$50 billion that our financial secretary so casually tossed out for innovation is the equivalent of HK$20,000 for each and every household in Hong Kong and the HK$20 billion for the Lok Ma... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2135566/tale-murkiness-lok-ma-chau-loop?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2135566/tale-murkiness-lok-ma-chau-loop?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Mar 2018 12:19:10 +0000 Beijing yesterday said it was against any form of racism but dismissed widespread criticism of state broadcaster CCTV’s annual holiday variety show as an attempt to drive a wedge between China and African nations. SCMP, February 23 My colleague Michael Chugani earlier wrote about this incident, suggesting it provided a good opportunity for Beijing to show that it can apologise for its own blunders as well as demanding that others apologise for theirs. He now has his answer to his suggestion. In... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2134575/china-refusal-apologise-cctv-blackface-skit-all-wrong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2134575/china-refusal-apologise-cctv-blackface-skit-all-wrong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Feb 2018 11:24:21 +0000 Disneyland deficit doubles to more than HK$345 million SCMP, February 21 And of all the lame excuses, they blamed depreciation. For their benefit, and also for the benefit of certain people who cannot distinguish a profit and loss account from a balance sheet, let me explain a very simple concept of accounting. If you buy a piece of equipment for your company and you expect it to last 10 years before it is worn out and needs replacement, you do not deduct its entire cost from the company’s... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2134097/plug-hk-disneys-bottomless-cash-sinkhole-forever-and-ever-and-use?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2134097/plug-hk-disneys-bottomless-cash-sinkhole-forever-and-ever-and-use?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Feb 2018 07:00:00 +0000 After years of growth, China’s trade ties with its biggest partner, the European Union, seems to be foundering, with frictions growing over a range of issues from steel overcapacity to market access and the South China Sea. SCMP, February 19 You may recall a photo we published a while back of a group of cheerleaders waving China flags as a goods train pulled out of the station in London, destined for Beijing with British export goods, the Belt and Road in action. I laughed. I am sure I had... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2133858/chinas-got-trade-problem-cant-be-solved-belt-and-road?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2133858/chinas-got-trade-problem-cant-be-solved-belt-and-road?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Feb 2018 12:23:38 +0000 Hong Kong saw the smallest population growth in nine years amid a surge in emigration and a persistently low birth rate, according to a government report released yesterday. SCMP, February 14 What I see is an ostrich with its head poked so deep into the sand that it can neither see nor hear this highly unwelcome news. Stencilled across the body of this ostrich are the words Transport Department. It is hardly an illusion. Ostriches would do well to take lessons from the department on how to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/2133684/hong-kongs-transport-department-has-its-head-poked-deep-sand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/2133684/hong-kongs-transport-department-has-its-head-poked-deep-sand?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Feb 2018 15:36:38 +0000 Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund reported a 4.8 per cent annualised net return in the 17 years since its launch, beating inflation of 1.8 per cent over the same period, the city’s pension regulator said yesterday. SCMP, February 9 There are some things that these MPF people forgot to mention in their little outbreak of chest-beating. We shall start with one of the more obvious ones. The first chart reminds you (some people need reminding) that from mid-1998 we went through a seven-year... https://www.scmp.com/business/money/markets-investing/article/2133058/guess-again-if-you-think-mpf-has-outperformed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/money/markets-investing/article/2133058/guess-again-if-you-think-mpf-has-outperformed?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Feb 2018 11:04:55 +0000 “Leaked photos show China is not only catching up with the US in ship-borne rail gun technology, but may surpass the US in the next five to 10 years. This is because the US needs more time to approve budgets while China’s political system allows it to put more funding into special projects.” Song Zhongping, military commentator, SCMP, February 7 In Yokohama harbour in Japan lies a museum passenger ship, the Hikawa, which was used to ferry Japanese dignitaries around the world on diplomatic... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2132880/boast-rail-gun-tech-shows-risks-command-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2132880/boast-rail-gun-tech-shows-risks-command-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Feb 2018 00:34:39 +0000 Increasing land supply will not be enough to solve Hong Kong’s housing crisis if more subsidised flats are not built, property experts said yesterday... SCMP February 6 Let me acquaint you with an anomaly that sits at the heart of our housing difficulties. It suggests that subsidies do not make things better. As the first chart shows, in June 2003 the total stock of public rental housing (PRH) flats stood at 664,000 units. The total number of occupants was 2.2 million. Shift forward to September... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2132440/hong-kongs-housing-shortage-not-one-needs-aspirations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2132440/hong-kongs-housing-shortage-not-one-needs-aspirations?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Feb 2018 10:30:15 +0000 The HK$84.4 billion cross-border high-speed rail link may become profitable eight years after its launch, Hong Kong’s transport chief said yesterday in an apparent U-turn from an earlier forecast that predicted the project would be operating at a loss for decades. -- SCMP, February 4 The financial numbers we have been given on this project have always been so skimpy that if they were clothes, we would have an offence against public decency. But let us make a few assumptions. The latest estimate... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2132104/dodgy-mathematics-puts-break-even-point-hong-kongs-high?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2132104/dodgy-mathematics-puts-break-even-point-hong-kongs-high?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Feb 2018 10:22:40 +0000 ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance has seen explosive growth in car insurance premiums, with revenue from the segment last month alone reaching 70 per cent of the amount it made for the whole of last year. SCMP, February 2 The size of Xiaomi’s share sale has not been finalised and details could still change, the source familiar with the IPO plan said. SCMP, February 1 Some of these China listings just take us for granted without even a nod to our regulations or the rules of our stock exchange. ZhongAn... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2131890/mainland-stock-listings-are-taking-hong-kong-rules-granted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2131890/mainland-stock-listings-are-taking-hong-kong-rules-granted?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Feb 2018 14:20:49 +0000 “The United States will no longer turn a blind eye to unfair economic practices including massive intellectual property theft ...” US President Donald Trump -- SCMP, January 28 His list was longer, of course, of all the practices to which the US turns a blind eye or deems fair when practised by the US. But I shall restrict myself here to his complaint about intellectual property theft and to China, as China is obviously the culprit he had in mind. First, some perspective. The figures show that... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2131071/why-trump-accusing-china-intellectual-property-theft-doesnt?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2131071/why-trump-accusing-china-intellectual-property-theft-doesnt?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Jan 2018 10:34:21 +0000 Hong Kong banks have been hit by an unprecedented HK$20 billion per month surge in suspicious ATM withdrawals, exposing a loophole that could deal a blow to Beijing’s battle against illicit capital flight via its notorious underground banking system. SCMP, January 26 Pardon me if you think the two charts here are only updated versions of ones I have earlier shown in this column. They are. But what they reveal is worth emphasising. The red line on the first chart takes a 12-month running total of... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2130872/money-laundering-and-fuss-over-atm-withdrawals-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2130872/money-laundering-and-fuss-over-atm-withdrawals-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Jan 2018 15:06:53 +0000 The [flat purchase] document was signed by Cheng’s [Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah] husband, Otto Poon Lok-to, on her behalf but it specified Cheng as the buyer. It also showed that Cheng paid HK$2.635 million in stamp duty – she should have had to shell out HK$9.3 million if she had not purchased it as a first-time buyer. -- SCMP, January 23 But she apparently deemed herself a first-time buyer as the other properties she owns were bought through corporate name. It’s a common enough... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2130399/what-happens-when-justice-secretarys-very-action-encourage-people?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2130399/what-happens-when-justice-secretarys-very-action-encourage-people?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jan 2018 10:04:51 +0000 The Binhai New Area in the northern city of Tianjin – an economic zone that sparked talk of grand ambitions to create China’s answer to Manhattan from a riverside swamp – raised eyebrows this month when it announced that its GDP growth in 2016 was a third smaller than it previously stated. -- SCMP, January 17 China is a land where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Binhai is not alone in puffing up its figures. Every province does it, I think, and every county. For instance, the... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2129992/arithmetic-chinese-characteristics-where-sum-parts-greater-whole?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2129992/arithmetic-chinese-characteristics-where-sum-parts-greater-whole?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Jan 2018 06:01:12 +0000 Record surplus with US fuels fear of trade war -- SCMP headline, January 13 It’s worse than it looks. Our story, quoting China’s figures, said this 2017 trade surplus with the US amounted to US$275 billion. The real figure is about US$100 billion bigger. The difference is mostly Hong Kong. I am not about to say that the authorities in Beijing cheat on the figures outright, but they have played a little fast and loose with the facts. Goods shipped to the United States in the form of re-exports... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2128262/americans-love-goods-chinas-factories-make-even-white-house?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2128262/americans-love-goods-chinas-factories-make-even-white-house?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Jan 2018 05:07:31 +0000 “Based on the information that I have now, I do not feel this is an integrity issue, and that’s why it will not compromise Teresa’s position as the secretary for justice.” -- Chief executive Carrie Lam Chen Yuet-ngor, SCMP Jan. 10 Take a car or a bus ride some day through the New Territories west of Shek Kong airfield and you will receive an object lesson in what “totally unrestricted free enterprise” means, when applied to town planning. The words “godawful mess” are defined by what meets your... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2127677/opinion-issue-illegal-structures-time-bomb-not-lack-political-sensitivity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2127677/opinion-issue-illegal-structures-time-bomb-not-lack-political-sensitivity?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Jan 2018 10:45:30 +0000 Transaction fees hamper everyday bitcoin use -- South China Morning Post - Business , January 8 When is the last time you heard anyone say that bitcoin is here to stay? I certainly cannot remember hearing anything of the sort recently. All that I hear and read is that bitcoin is a speculative bubble headed the way of the dodo bird. Now I don’t pretend to understand how it works. People have explained blockchain to me before, that drew from me only a grimace of idiocy. I’m in my sixties. I was... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2127286/let-search-begin-viable-alternatives-worlds-fiat-currencies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2127286/let-search-begin-viable-alternatives-worlds-fiat-currencies?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jan 2018 07:00:30 +0000 One reading of Article 18 is that its purpose is to prevent Chinese national law from applying to the whole of Hong Kong, thereby undermining “one country, two systems” and, in particular, the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong. On this reading, if the proposed co-location clearance arrangement has no such effect but, on the contrary, is necessitated by economic development, then Article 18 is not contravened. Barrister Ronny Tong Ka-wah, SCMP, January 3 Let’s deal first with this... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2127151/when-it-comes-co-location-its-all-about-who-control?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2127151/when-it-comes-co-location-its-all-about-who-control?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Jan 2018 19:11:11 +0000 “It is important to say that the Bar Association, like myself, is not opposing Carrie Lam or [any] individuals. They just want a clear explanation on why the co-location arrangement is lawful”. – Barrister Philip Dykes, SCMP, January 2 It cannot be a lawful arrangement. The stationing of national security agents in Hong Kong with powers of arrest is prohibited by the Basic Law. So why ask anyone why it is lawful? But this may be just the reason that Beijing insists on it. This is a show of... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2126598/hong-kongs-joint-rail-checkpoint-shows-emperor-not-always-far-away-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2126598/hong-kongs-joint-rail-checkpoint-shows-emperor-not-always-far-away-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Jan 2018 03:58:51 +0000 There is consensus in Washington that China’s economic policy is unfair and there are violations of many WTO and bilateral commitments. In the coming months we are going to see a lot of rhetoric translate into actions that try to push China to address concerns of the US in economic policies. Scott Kennedy, Centre for Strategic and International Studies SCMP, December 19 Is it true that China has broken the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and many bilateral commitments? It would not... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2125024/christmas-americans-would-do-well-remember-who-they-owe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2125024/christmas-americans-would-do-well-remember-who-they-owe?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Dec 2017 03:28:57 +0000 HK revamps listing rules in battle for global tech giants -- SCMP headline, December 16 This latest attempt by Hong Kong’s stock exchange chief executive Charles Li Xiaojia to destroy shareholder democracy has an offhand way of dismissing his earlier, overly ambitious attempt to do away with all significant listing requirements. That earlier concept paper in 2015 was only a “straw man”, says this latest concept paper; meaning, I take it, that it was an intentionally false proposal we were meant... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2124799/why-did-hong-kong-replace-our-one-share-one-vote-principle-dual?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2124799/why-did-hong-kong-replace-our-one-share-one-vote-principle-dual?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Dec 2017 09:31:21 +0000 A Hong Kong court has issued its first ban on a short-seller from releasing further negative reports on a mainland company in which it has holdings. Business, December 15 I think our courts are treading on dangerous ground here, but let’s first set out how they may be right to tread dangerously on this occasion. If there is good reason to believe that professional short-seller Emerson Analytics is acting maliciously by continuing to publish libellous research reports on the listed China Hongqiao... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2124620/hong-kong-courts-dangerous-ground-battle-over-free-speech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2124620/hong-kong-courts-dangerous-ground-battle-over-free-speech?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Dec 2017 15:18:24 +0000 According to the survey, a litre of petrol in Hong Kong costs US$2.13, 142 per cent higher than in New York. A cappuccino in Hong Kong costs US$4.77, 40 per cent more than in London, while beer at a local bar costs US$11.90, 41 per cent more than even in Luanda. SCMP, December 13 Just what message we can take in from all these simplistic survey comparisons of expatriate living costs is a mystery to me, although I can understand why most of them are conducted. ECA International, which sponsored... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2124127/yes-hong-kongs-expensive-city-dont-put-too-much-store-those?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2124127/yes-hong-kongs-expensive-city-dont-put-too-much-store-those?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Dec 2017 06:06:56 +0000 Hong Kong would not reduce taxes across the board despite an anticipated global race to make corporate rate cuts following a US Senate vote to lower the amount businesses pay, the city’s finance chief said (Sunday). - SCMP, December 11 There is a simple story here and it is a false one that Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po is quite right to reject although I am not sure he understands why he is right. The story is that economic growth is slow across the world is because corporate taxes are... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2123840/trumps-folly-cut-corporate-tax-will-change-nothing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2123840/trumps-folly-cut-corporate-tax-will-change-nothing?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Dec 2017 09:27:34 +0000 In the latest sign of an intensified clampdown on excessive speculation, the China Securities Regulatory Commission fined local investor Wu Junle 1 million yuan (US$151,185) for trading stocks between accounts with the same ownership and spoofing, or quickly cancelling orders that are placed to create false buying or selling sentiment. Business, December 6 Securities regulators have a way of appropriating the everyday idiom of the English language to create new technical terms for securities... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2123635/strange-case-robber-bitten-spoofing-his-own-stock?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2123635/strange-case-robber-bitten-spoofing-his-own-stock?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Dec 2017 13:29:30 +0000 The Civic Party’s Jeremy Tam Man-ho would not say whether he would back or reject the funding request [for the cost overrun in the Shatin to Central Link], saying he had insufficient information. “We need to know the exact breakdown of the cost overrun rather than a lump sum,” he said. SCMP, December 6 Now that’s what I call not seeing the forest for the trees. Does Jeremy Tam really believe that listening to excuses in detail for yet another huge cost overrun will reveal what is fundamentally... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2123103/contractors-keep-bilking-us-billions-cost-overruns-because-they?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2123103/contractors-keep-bilking-us-billions-cost-overruns-because-they?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Dec 2017 05:34:31 +0000 Another source familiar with [Science Park’s] vetting process said: “There is a feeling that the management is not doing things in the interest of science, but running it as a business, a piece of real estate. -- SCMP, December 4 Good. That is how it should be run. Only by treating the Science Park as a business, has it any hope of stimulating the New Technology ideas our government wants from it. I recognise that this is contrary to the thinking of most people on the matter. The common notion... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2122821/hong-kongs-science-park-may-finally-be-point-when-it-can-put-tax-dollars?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2122821/hong-kongs-science-park-may-finally-be-point-when-it-can-put-tax-dollars?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Dec 2017 10:46:11 +0000 Here is an indicator of trouble to keep your eye on if present trends continue. It is called an inverted yield curve and in the past it has always spoken prophecy. For this we have to go to the financial marketplace in the United States. It is the only one liquid enough for this curve of fate to show itself reliably. I have to exclude those markets taken to Never Never Land by monetary sorcery at the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. The idea here is that short-duration debt... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2122619/does-inverted-yield-curve-spell-trouble-us-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2122619/does-inverted-yield-curve-spell-trouble-us-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Dec 2017 14:47:58 +0000 Homebuyers hit as Hibor jumps to 9-year high - Business, November 29 Some people will always complain that a glass is half empty rather than be glad that it is half full. Here at last, comes the remedy to the high home prices about which everyone has complained for years, and what are we told instead? Homebuyers hit. I shall grant you that people who have just recently bought into residential property market will not feel happy about the rising trend of interest rates, and I am sorry for the... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2122152/love-or-hate-it-higher-mortgage-rate-will-help-normalise-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2122152/love-or-hate-it-higher-mortgage-rate-will-help-normalise-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Nov 2017 10:48:43 +0000 Hong Kong’s stock market has seen a flurry of fundraising this year by technology and internet companies ... Business, November 25 One of my all time favourite stock pickers is Peter Lynch, the fund manager who achieved an average annual 29 per cent return on Fidelity’s Magellan Fund when he ran it between 1977 and 1990. Among his great gems of investment advice was that he liked the kind of company any fool could run on the grounds that sooner or later some fool would. His checklist for stock... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2121778/todays-tech-bonanza-gets-fail-fund-manager-checklist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2121778/todays-tech-bonanza-gets-fail-fund-manager-checklist?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Nov 2017 09:14:27 +0000 More than half of Hong Kong’s young people have never heard of the “Greater Bay Area” development plan, and their continued ignorance will mean the city missing out on opportunities, a local think tank and youth group have warned. City, November 24 My faith in Hong Kong’s young people has been restored. They have ignored the forgettable and the city will consequently continue to enjoy its great opportunities. How many repeats of this “Greater Bay Area” idea have we found ourselves assailed with... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/2121570/youngsters-know-truth-about-chinas-greater-bay-area-plan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/2121570/youngsters-know-truth-about-chinas-greater-bay-area-plan?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Nov 2017 13:46:05 +0000 Hongkongers are set to foot a bigger bill than expected for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge after latest estimates showed the cost for the bridge had overrun by one third or HK$11.8 billion. SCMP, November 23 Personally I would rate this news up there with the thrilling announcement that sunrise tomorrow will take place in the morning and the sun will be in the east when it happens. Has anyone yet heard of a government concrete pouring project in Hong Kong that did not go into huge cost... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2121094/nothing-about-hk-zhuhai-macau-bridge-adds-even-cost-overruns-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2121094/nothing-about-hk-zhuhai-macau-bridge-adds-even-cost-overruns-are?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Nov 2017 09:11:23 +0000 The real embarrassment for Hong Kong is not that statistics have fallen to 2.8 persons per public flat but that in a rich city like Hong Kong the average public housing tenant shares only 142 sq ft of living space … If we want to house our people with more dignity and narrow this gap, we must reclaim more land and build many more and bigger flats. It is as simple as that. – Nelson Wong, vice-chairman, Business and Professionals Federation of Hong Kong, in SCMP’s “Letters to the editor”, November... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2120069/hong-kong-still-has-plenty-wasted-space-solve-its-housing-woes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2120069/hong-kong-still-has-plenty-wasted-space-solve-its-housing-woes?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Nov 2017 10:30:30 +0000 Hong Kong has been ranked 68th in a global smart city index – way behind its main rival Singapore which came in second … – SCMP City, November 9 The first thing in any survey of this kind is to ask who conducted it and what authority they have for their findings. The answer in this case is a Swedish website called EasyPark which was set up 12 years ago as a smartphone app to help drivers find pay car parks in crowded cities and which has now grown outside Sweden. As to its authority, well, as I... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2119684/hong-kong-needs-think-way-out-box-realise-its-own-digital?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2119684/hong-kong-needs-think-way-out-box-realise-its-own-digital?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Nov 2017 09:30:15 +0000 The three richest people in the US – Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett own as much wealth as the bottom half of the US population, or 160 million people. Guardian, SCMP, November 10 This is not a statistic on which the United States has reason to pride itself but, in my view, it is often a misunderstood one. We actually have two different gaps here. The wealth gap measures the total value, mostly at current market prices, of what any person owns and the income gap measures the amount... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2119487/tale-three-us-fed-misfits-and-growing-wealth-gap?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2119487/tale-three-us-fed-misfits-and-growing-wealth-gap?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Nov 2017 17:55:16 +0000 The age of easy money is nearly over – Bloomberg headline, November 3 Above is a common reading of what the US Federal Reserve Board means by unwinding its asset purchase programme, commonly referred to as quantitative easing. It gives you the impression Fed governors decided nine years ago to help their country out of its financial crisis by conjuring a flood of money out of thin air and using it to stimulate the economy back into growth. This has now been achieved, so the reading goes, and... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2118945/fed-never-flooding-us-money-9-years-ago-it-just-toyed-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2118945/fed-never-flooding-us-money-9-years-ago-it-just-toyed-its?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Nov 2017 07:30:45 +0000 Hong Kong’s competition watchdog should seek jail sentences against offenders whenever possible, according to the new chief executive of the anti-trust regulator. - SCMP, November 6 Let me tell you how this relationship of regulator and prison sentence works in the United States, from where our new Competition Commission boss, Brent Snyder hails. I call it a form of blackmail. Any regulator in the US, be it in competition, securities, or banking, frequently finds it difficult to put together a... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2118674/our-competition-commission-pushing-one-very-bad-idea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2118674/our-competition-commission-pushing-one-very-bad-idea?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Nov 2017 13:30:30 +0000 Hong Kong’s slip to fifth [in a World Bank survey] was mainly because of a lower score in “resolving insolvency” ... for the corporate sector, a government spokesman said. He said the government would review the insolvency policy from time to time for more effective processing of winding-up cases and better protection of creditors. SCMP, November 2 I did a double take when I read this the first time. Government seeking better protection of creditors? When bureaucrats take an interest in these... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2118444/bankers-and-financiers-not-lawyers-are-true-professionals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2118444/bankers-and-financiers-not-lawyers-are-true-professionals?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Nov 2017 18:41:30 +0000 New York is the world’s most competitive city, a survey by the United Nations and China’s foremost think tank has found. Shenzhen was the highest ranked mainland city, while Hong Kong fell six places to 12th, undermined by its record-high property prices. - SCMP, October 31 I wonder how much the United Nations was involved in the key bits here, when the finer details seem to have come from the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. But let he who is innocent throw the first stone. I have... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2117958/tip-week-take-social-surveys-even-un-hefty-pinch-salt?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2117958/tip-week-take-social-surveys-even-un-hefty-pinch-salt?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2017 08:31:08 +0000 Logically, allowing MPF scheme members choice of funds should increase competition between funds and should, if the choice is made perfectly rationally, enhance pricing efficiency in the industry. However, overseas experience tells us that pension scheme members do not always behave in a completely rational manner. Evidence suggests that over time members have shown increasing apathy and inertia rather than use their powers to exert pressure through market forces. Cheng Yan-chee, Mandatory... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2116582/hong-kongs-mpfa-responsible-regulator-or-shying-away-making-fundamental?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2116582/hong-kongs-mpfa-responsible-regulator-or-shying-away-making-fundamental?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Oct 2017 08:28:50 +0000 Hong Kong’s listed companies have been on the receiving end of the most short-seller attacks this year, with many allegedly involving fraudulent activities. Business, October 5 There has always been a whiff of the malodorous to short selling. How can it be right to sell something you do not own? Surely we ought to frown on people who scheme to profit from the misfortunes of others this way. I like how it was put by a big 19th century Wall Street speculator, Daniel Drew, who had a habit in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2115392/research-based-short-selling-fine-way-expose-fraud?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2115392/research-based-short-selling-fine-way-expose-fraud?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Oct 2017 14:56:08 +0000 For Europe, Catalonia’s preposterous quest for independence … opens an awful Pandora’s box. The European continent, painstakingly riveted together over the past five decades into a multi-ethnic community of 28 rule-based states, faces the danger of degeneration into a Babel of mini-states as separatist and autonomous movements are unleashed. David Dodwell, Inside Out October 9 I take a different view from my colleague, David Dodwell, here. I think the re-emergence of old regional loyalties in... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2114821/why-nation-state-has-had-its-day-europe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2114821/why-nation-state-has-had-its-day-europe?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Oct 2017 02:30:30 +0000 Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong’s long distance bus and rail commuters will get special public transport fare discounts under a concession scheme to be outlined by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ... Sources have confirmed the government is likely to use part of dividends from the MTR Corporation to subsidise fares for commuters taking long trips. -- SCMP, October 6 It must be déjà vu. Only six years ago, Hong Kong’s government did exactly the same under something called the Work... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2114538/heres-why-hong-kongs-commuting-subsidy-will-hurt-people-its-supposed-help?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2114538/heres-why-hong-kongs-commuting-subsidy-will-hurt-people-its-supposed-help?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Oct 2017 08:30:30 +0000 “In the past decade there was this huge surge in the Chinese economy, and the Hong Kong economy failed to benefit with the exception of the tourism sector. By missing this window, Hong Kong missed an opportunity for economic transformation ...” Tao Dong, Credit Suisse Business, October 5 I don’t normally bother much with this sort of China-good-Hong-Kong-bad talk, but its persistence does fool some people into thinking it might be true. Let’s set things straight. As the chart shows, over the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/2114384/mainland-chinas-transformation-nothing-shout-about?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/2114384/mainland-chinas-transformation-nothing-shout-about?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Oct 2017 14:39:18 +0000 Zhong An Online Property and Casualty Insurance, China’s first online-only insurer, closed 9 per cent up from its IPO price on Thursday in its Hong Kong debut. With an oversubscription of nearly 400 times from retail investors, the company had priced its IPO at the top end of the expected range, raising US$1.5 billion in the city’s biggest ever fintech offering. SCMP, September 29 Let’s have this again. A China financial technology company, complying with all the listing rules of the main board... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2114034/huge-ipo-shows-we-dont-need-third-board-attract-tech-stocks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2114034/huge-ipo-shows-we-dont-need-third-board-attract-tech-stocks?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Oct 2017 22:04:31 +0000 Former political rising star Sun Zhengcai has been expelled from the Communist Party and will face prosecution, state media reported yesterday – two months after his shock downfall and just weeks before the party leadership reshuffle SCMP, Sept. 30 I cannot understand the “shock” here. What is so surprising in the news that yet another top party boss has been sacked for taking bribes and living the high life on public money? Corruption does not just afflict a command economy randomly as an... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2113675/corruption-life-and-soul-command-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2113675/corruption-life-and-soul-command-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Oct 2017 08:00:45 +0000 A top adviser to the Hong Kong government has warned that opposition lawmakers threatened the prospects of the city’s financial services industry if they refused to approve funding for the Financial Services Development Council SCMP, September 23 Trawl your way though the long list of government websites and eventually you come across something called the Productivity Council, created 50 years ago to help the manufacturing industries on which we then crucially relied. Manufacturing in Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2113076/does-hong-kong-really-need-so-many-obscure-and-antiquated?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2113076/does-hong-kong-really-need-so-many-obscure-and-antiquated?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Sep 2017 08:45:00 +0000 China has hit back strongly at S&P Global’s “perplexing” decision to downgrade the country’s sovereign credit rating... S&P was “neglecting China’s sound economic fundamentals and development potential”, the finance ministry said on its website yesterday, calling it a “wrong decision.” -- SCMP, September 23 I agree that it was the wrong call if S&P made it purely on the basis that debt levels in the mainland are high relative to the size of the economy. This is a frequent criticism with... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2112719/heres-why-sp-may-be-something-its-cut-chinas-sovereign?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2112719/heres-why-sp-may-be-something-its-cut-chinas-sovereign?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Sep 2017 06:45:00 +0000 “Bitcoin or other digital currencies do not require holders to trade under their real name, which allows them to be used for money-laundering activities. Bitcoin and other digital currencies are considered commodities... However, investors need to understand that these commodities have no monetary backing.” - Norman Chan Tak-lam, HKMA chief executive, SCMP business, Sept. 19 Let’s deal first with this business about how bitcoin has no monetary backing. Neither in truth does the Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2112455/world-seems-think-bitcoin-bad-its-not-only-currency-needs-settle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2112455/world-seems-think-bitcoin-bad-its-not-only-currency-needs-settle?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Sep 2017 11:15:15 +0000 The Mandatory Provident Fund, the city’s pension fund, would benefit from a centralised database, a push to digitise transactions, and differentiating members by income and age, according to PwC – SCMP Business, Sept 20 I am amazed, I truly am, that researchers of the standing of PwC should conduct a study on the MPF and yet miss the enormous flaw at the heart of this forced retirements savings scheme. This was not a study carried out for the MPF Authority or, as far as I can make out, for any... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2112046/pwc-study-misses-point-entirely-possible-central-mpf-registry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2112046/pwc-study-misses-point-entirely-possible-central-mpf-registry?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Sep 2017 09:45:45 +0000