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Category: Finance

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Finance news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • VinaCapital invests further in live video streaming startup

    VinaCapital invests further in live video streaming startup

    A Vietnamese startup that provides multi-platform Livestream service for social sellers, GoStream, has received a second round of investment from venture capital firm VinaCapital Ventures.

    But it has not disclosed the value of the investment.

    GoStream has completed its series A funding worth $1 million, co-founder Nghiem Tien Vien said last November at the 2020 TechFest Vietnam, a national festival for innovative startups.

    VinaCapital Ventures CEO Hoang Duc Trung said GoStream is the leading company in integrating live streaming across a number of sectors.

    “Their innovative streaming technology is helping more businesses reach more viewers and customers, and we look forward to working with them as they further expand their capabilities and play an even greater role in Vietnam’s growing digitization.”

    Founded in 2017, GoStream is a simulcasting live video streaming platform serving multiple corporate clients and facilitating over 100,000 live streaming sessions daily.

    Its product, GoStudio, won the first prize at the Vietnam TechFest and will represent the country at the 2021 Startup World Cup contest in the U.S.

    In 2019, GoStream made it to the top 30 most used live broadcasting applications on Facebook.

    It received $200,000 in seed funding from VinaCapital and the startup accelerator program Zone Startups Vietnam.

  • HSBC Advocates for More Asian Say in Climate Change

    HSBC Advocates for More Asian Say in Climate Change

    HSBC chairman Mark Tucker lauded the efforts of global governments in creating standards and definitions for sustainability but expressed concerns that they could potentially leave out Asian economies.

    According to Tucker, Asia is increasingly where global leadership is coming from» with regards to sustainability, citing China and Japan’s rise to drive global agendas in the recent G20 forum alongside the greening of Hong Kong and Singapore’s financial markets.

    Asia is arguably where the fight against climate change will be won or lost, he said during a virtual session at this year’s Asian Financial Forum (AFF).

    Although Tucker applauded industry efforts to set standards in the fight against climate change, he underlined his concerns that this could occur at the expense of capital flows for Asian emerging economies.

    Setting international standards and definitions for sustainability is essential to making progress and the EU has done very good work on this,» he said. «But there’s a danger that these standards may not drive investments into the emerging markets in Asia where it’s needed most for sustainable infrastructure.

    He also underlined this year’s Scotland-based COP26 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) conference as a key moment to lock in the ambitious, low carbon policy goals, adding that Asian economies need to play a big part in those discussions» on issues such as establishing carbon prices.

    Tucker expressed greater optimism in the global fight against climate change, highlighting better prospects without the Donald Trump administration.

    If you look at the three economic blocks – U.S., China, E.U. – there’s plenty they don’t find agreement on, he explained. But I think where they are absolutely united today is their commitment, certainly under the new U.S. administration, to tackle climate change.

    Last October, we announced a new commitment to reset our ambitions, which were significant in the first place, but to reset them to a higher level, Tucker said, reiterating the bank’s goal to achieve net-zero carbon emission across its business by 2050.

    Aligning our own emissions and those of our portfolios and customers to the Paris Agreement goals. This is not insignificant when you think of this: our portfolio is largely Asian based and other banks are clearly in much more established marketplaces.

    The bank has committed up to $1 trillion of financing for this transition over the next ten years though it has yet to share details about its exact strategy.

    On HSBC’s business plans, Tucker said that with interest rates expected to stay low and an ongoing pandemic, the bank has changed its plans to further accelerate growth.

    He highlighted South Asia and, in particular, wealth management opportunities in China’s Greater Bay Area. He separately noted that HSBC was not looking into emerging non-traditional areas of finance like cryptocurrencies, despite related moves by competitors like Standard Chartered’s inroad into crypto custody or DBS’s recent launch of a digital exchange.

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  • Knight Frank Hires Asia Workplace Strategist

    Knight Frank Hires Asia Workplace Strategist

    Knight Frank appointed an Asia Pacific lead for the workplace and strategic consulting amidst unprecedented transformation of employee conditions driven by the ongoing pandemic.

    Samarth Kasturia joins Knight Frank in the new role, according to a statement, based in the firm’s regional headquarter in Singapore.

    A trained architect with a Master’s degree in finance and investment, Kasturia has over a decade of consulting experience specializing in workplace and real estate strategy. He has previously advised numerous global firms including Royal Dutch Shell, Standard Chartered Bank, Total SA, Novartis, British Petroleum, Nestlé, Maersk, Uber and Facebook.

    Demand for workplace strategy has increased as corporates look for ways to right-size their offices toward a future that integrates an increased need for collaboration, well-being, and flexibility, said Tim Armstrong, APAC head of occupier services & commercial agency.

  • StanChart Nets Ex-Bank of Singapore Relationship Manager

    StanChart Nets Ex-Bank of Singapore Relationship Manager

    Standard Chartered hires a new private banker focused on the Singapore market, formerly from Bank of Singapore, according to a note.

    Suresh Nair joins Standard Chartered as a senior client partner for private banking, according to the note, effective as of today with a focus on the Singapore market. In his new role, Nair will report to Adeline Chow, private banking team lead for Singapore and Malaysia.

    A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the hire.

    Nair was most recently with Bank of Singapore where he was responsible for the Singapore, Malaysia and international teams. Previously, he had over 20 years of banking experience working for the likes of J.P. Morgan, HSBC Private Bank and American Express. In addition to Southeast Asia, Nair also has some experience covering the Dubai market.

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  • Mastercard launches one-stop resource site to support digital transformation of SMEs in Asia Pacific

    Mastercard launches one-stop resource site to support digital transformation of SMEs in Asia Pacific

    To help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) recover from the pandemic and prepare for the future, Mastercard has launched the Digital Acceleration for Small Businesses microsite across most of its Asia Pacific websites with information and resources on how to digitalize and run businesses more efficiently.

    As COVID-19 drives a rapid and lasting shift to e-commerce and contactless payments, the one-stop center features guides on digital transformation, e-learning courses, information about Mastercard products and services for SMEs, cyber security insights and tools to reduce vulnerabilities and access to discounts on business software solutions, e-commerce platforms and digital marketing services.

    “SMEs have taken a particularly hard hit from the pandemic, so it’s vital for them to get the knowledge, skills and resources they need to offer an omnichannel shopping and payment experience that drives business and builds customer loyalty in the physical and digital worlds,” said Sandeep Malhotra, Executive Vice President, Products & Innovation, Asia Pacific, Mastercard.

    “With consumer buying habits and expectations evolving so quickly, this initiative is just one of the ways that Mastercard is fostering financial inclusion and helping small businesses to go digital across their operations to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve cashflow management – all while staying safe and protected from cyber risks and fraud.”

    The Digital Acceleration for Small Businesses center is available across Mastercard’s English-language websites for Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, India and Southeast Asia. It will be rolled out selectively on non-English sites in the future.

    To enhance the resources for SMEs, Mastercard has joined forces with popular website builder Wix and with Zoho, a cloud solutions provider with more than 60 million users. These partners are sponsoring online guides and articles on various topics – from creating an online store and choosing the right domain name to migrating to an online expense management and accounting platform.

    “As the world shifts beyond short-term survival, SMEs need to plan for long-term success in a new world of online shopping. At Wix, we’ve seen first-hand how the past year challenged businesses in so many ways but also how it brought out their resilience, grit and adaptability,” said Liat Karpel Gurwicz, Head of eCommerce Marketing at Wix.com. “We will draw on the collective learning of the Wix team who built our eCommerce platform and the merchants who run their businesses on it to help SMEs plan and strategize for 2021.”

    “Even as organizations are trying to reimagine their business models, dwelling in rich content helps unlock ideas. We are excited to participate in this initiative by Mastercard, a company that is committed to empower businesses to innovate and implement superior solutions for business transformation,” said Gibu Mathew, Vice President and GM, Asia Pacific, Zoho Corp. “This initiative will further enhance and deepen digital awareness and know-how, allowing business owners and top management to make informed decisions when selecting solutions that best support evolving business needs.”

    The resources site in Asia Pacific is part of Mastercard’s global efforts to help SMEs “Get Paid, Get Capital and Get Digital” through new product development, partnerships and distribution channels. These include initiatives in North America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand.

    After reaching its goal to bring 500 million people into the financial system, Mastercard strengthened its commitment to inclusion by pledging to help a total of 1 billion people get access to the digital economy by 2025, including 50 million small businesses and 25 million women entrepreneurs.

    Beyond supporting businesses, the benefits of going digital are far-reaching. Digitalization of SMEs could add US$2.6 trillion to US$3.1 trillion to Asia Pacific’s GDP by 2024, a recent study by International Data Corporation showed. Due to the impact of COVID-19, it said, nearly 70% of SMEs in Asia Pacific are accelerating digitization and 86% believe this will help build resilience against future events.

    Reflecting the huge shift to a “digital first” mindset, contactless payments via the Mastercard network were 41% of in-person transactions in the third quarter of 2020 – up from 37% in the second quarter and 30% a year earlier.

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  • UBS Poised for Indian Fintech Deal

    UBS Poised for Indian Fintech Deal

    Swiss bank UBS is reportedly poised to pour several hundred million into a payments start-up in India. The investment is alongside some of the Swiss wealth manager’s ultra-rich clients.

    Zurich-based UBS is negotiating a $400 million investment in Paytm, an Indian e-commerce payment system Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people close to the talks. The bank’s asset management arm wants to co-invest with UBS’ wealthy clients, the outlet reported – which would mark one of the largest such deals.

    The ten-year-old fintech was valued at $16 billion in its last round of financing two years ago. It competes with services like Google Pay or WhatsApp’s payment service, as well as regional start-ups.

    UBS is attempting to buy shares from Paytm employees, the news service reported. It doesn’t appear to be a done deal yet: UBS aims to finalize an agreement as soon as this month, though talks could still be delayed or fall apart.

    Paytm counts Softbank, Ant Financial, Berkshire Hathaway, and asset manager T. Rowe Price, among its investors. Its CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, said this week Paytm could turn a profit as soon as this year.

  • UBS Boss Ralph Hamers in Tight Spot

    UBS Boss Ralph Hamers in Tight Spot

    The new UBS boss’ chances of escaping a criminal trial over money laundering at the last bank he ran appear to be slimming.

    Ralph Hamers is 99 percent certain to be formally criminally investigated in the Netherlands over money-laundering accusations, the Dutch activist who is seeking to reopen the probe told Swiss weekly NZZ am Sonntag.

    Pieter Lakeman, the 78-year-old who runs a foundation devoted to financial transparency and fair business, told the outlet that Dutch prosecutors informed him in a letter dated January 8 that they would seek charges against Hamers over his role in a money-laundering scandal at ING that culminated in a 2018 settlement.

    The matter has exploded less than three months into Hamers’ tenure running the world’s largest wealth manager, where he is widely expected to modernize, soften a hidebound, bulky hierarchy, and better equip the Swiss bank on technology, data, and digitization.

    The Dutch legacy means Hamers will instead have to devote considerable time and resources to answer to investigators. A feted European banking CEO who was also wooed by HSBC, Hamers may not be tenable if criminally charged in the Netherlands.

    UBS’ board has thus far backed him, and noted that it had ordered an outside review of the ING events while it was recruiting Hamers – which found no wrong-doing.

    Hamers also passed Swiss financial regulator Finma’s fitness and probity testing. UBS Chairman Axel Weber made clear this week that «we are monitoring the situation and will adjust to developments.»

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  • HSBC Hires Ex-SSGA ETF Capital Markets Head for Asia

    HSBC Hires Ex-SSGA ETF Capital Markets Head for Asia

    HSBC’s asset management arm the former Asia Pacific head of ETF capital markets from State Street Global Advisors.

    HSBC Global Asset Management hired Jacqueline Pang in the newly created Hong Kong-based role of APAC head of exchange-traded fund sales, according to a statement, reporting to global head of ETF sales Olga De Tapia. She will be tasked with expanding HSBC Global Asset Management’s ETF business, including sales and distribution.

    Pang is a 20-year investment management veteran and was previously with SSGA for eight years. Prior to that, she was with Amundi Asset Management for five years where she ran its capital markets business and overseeing ETFs covering brokers and market makers across Europe.

    «ETFs are one of the fastest-growing investment products in Asia and we’re expanding our sales team to continue to meet the investment needs of our Asian clients,» said de Tapia. «[Pang] extensive client-facing and ETF market experience will be invaluable to help grow our ETF platform in the region.»

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  • UBS Poised for Indian Fintech Deal

    UBS Poised for Indian Fintech Deal

    Swiss bank UBS is reportedly poised to pour several hundred million into a payments start-up in India. The investment is alongside some of the Swiss wealth manager’s ultra-rich clients.

    Zurich-based UBS is negotiating a $400 million investment in Paytm, an Indian e-commerce payment system reported on Thursday, citing people close to the talks. The bank’s asset management arm wants to co-invest with UBS’ wealthy clients, the outlet reported – which would mark one of the largest such deals.

    The ten-year-old fintech was valued at $16 billion in its last round of financing two years ago. It competes with services like Google Pay or WhatsApp’s payment service, as well as regional start-ups.

    UBS is attempting to buy shares from Paytm employees, the news service reported. It doesn’t appear to be a done deal yet: «UBS aims to finalize an agreement as soon as this month, though talks could still be delayed or fall apart,» «Bloomberg» reported from sources.

    Paytm counts Softbank, Ant Financial, Berkshire Hathaway, and asset manager T. Rowe Price, among its investors. Its CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, said this week Paytm could turn a profit as soon as this year.

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  • Top UBS Banker Defects

    Top UBS Banker Defects

    Quintet is replenishing its management with a high-profile Dutch banker, in its latest raid on UBS. The Luxembourg-based private bank is hiring Eli Leenaars as its operating chief, it said in a statement on Tuesday. Currently a vice-chairman at UBS, Leennaars is due to replace Colin Price in the job, effective June 1.

    The hire of Leennaars, a prominent Dutch banker, is the latest in a string of high-profile hires from UBS for Quintet. The Qatari-controlled private banking group is seeking a revival of its fortunes under new management stocked heavily with ex-UBS top executives.

    The project was spearheaded by UBS’ ex-private bank head Juerg Zeltner until he died suddenly in March. Now run by Jakob Stott, also an ex-executive of the world’s largest wealth manager, Quintet opened a Swiss bank last year and is in the process of streamlining eight largely autonomous private banks across Europe.

    Leennars, who has kept a low profile since moving to Zurich in 2015, was far more prominent in his 24-year career with ING. He was reportedly ultimately outmaneuvered for the top job in 2013 – by none other than Ralph Hamers, now also in Switzerland. Just ten weeks into Hamers’ tenure as CEO of UBS, Leennaars appears overworking for big companies.

    After decades of service at large organizations, I am eager to put my experience and energy to work at this highly entrepreneurial firm, he said in a statement. The 60-year-old banker was instrumental in the transformation of ING after the 2008/09 crisis, after which Hamers overhauled its aging infrastructure in favor of a so-called agile organization.

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  • HSBC Becomes First Foreign Fintech in China

    HSBC Becomes First Foreign Fintech in China

    HSBC furthers its expansion in mainland China with the latest launch of a fintech subsidiary based in Shanghai. The British lender announces the opening of the HSBC Fintech Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, according to a media statement, with an eye to scale up its wealth management business in the mainland.

    We believe technology can help provide better customer services, which can spur the growth of the real economy,» said Mark Wang, president, and chief executive officer for China.

    The opening of HSBC Fintech reflects HSBC’s commitment to investing in mainland China and also our support to developing technology and innovation in the financial world.

    The new entity will initially provide centralized technology and data services to the bank’s mobile financial planning offering in the mainland – HSBC Pinnacle Venture – to target customers outside the branch network. Digital tools introduced will cover financial planning, employee benefits, and wellbeing platforms for through a one-stop platform focused on corporates.

    In the future, HSBC Fintech will gradually expand the scope of its services to cover other HSBC entities.

    Through this corporate platform, we hope to provide dedicated financial services traditionally available only to high net worth customers to corporate employees on a broader basis, creating positive commercial value for companies, and bringing mutual benefits to both companies and employees, added Trista Sun, vice chair of HSBC Insurance Asia Pacific and execute director of HSBC Fintech Company.

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  • Vietcombank targets 12 procent profit growth

    Vietcombank targets 12 procent profit growth

    State-owned lender Vietcombank has announced credit growth and pre-tax profit targets of 12 percent and VND25.2 trillion ($1.09 billion) for 2021.

    The 12 percent credit growth target matches the target set for the banking industry as a whole, the lender said.

    In 2020 Vietcombank’s profit was VND23 trillion, the same as the previous year. It also targets keeping non-performing loans at under 1 percent and achieving a net profit margin of 3.1 percent.

    Last year, non-interest income accounted for 50 percent of total income, up 10.7 percentage points from 2019. Income from treasury operations and investment accounted for 21 percent.

    In April 2020, Vietcombank became an exclusive bancassurance partner of FWD, the insurance arm of Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li’s investment firm Pacific Century.

    Its income from bancassurance was VND1.87 trillion, or 18 percent of non-interest income.

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  • AXA Names Managing Director for Life Insurance

    AXA Names Managing Director for Life Insurance

    AXA Insurance names a new managing director to lead its life strategic business unit, succeeding incumbent Sean Goh. Li Choo Kwek-Perroy joins as a managing director for AXA Insurance’s life strategic business unit, according to a statement, while Goh will leave the firm to pursue other opportunities. In her new role, Kwek-Perroy reports to Jean Drouffe, chief executive at AXA Insurance.

    Kwek-Perroy has two decades of insurance experience and rejoins AXA where she first worked in 2000 before holding various senior positions in Paris, Brussels, Hong Kong, and Singapore. She was trained as an actuary and held a diverse mix of roles in the industry across product, marketing, digital and distribution transformation, risk management, and finance. She was most recently a chief transformation officer and chief customer officer with rival Manulife.

    I am delighted to welcome Kwek-Perroy back to the AXA Singapore Executive Committee, said Drouff. Her strong technical background, extensive industry experience, and proven leadership capabilities make her the ideal choice to drive our life business forward. I am confident that she will bring valuable new perspectives and innovative and customer-focused insights to the business.

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  • Standard Chartered Appoints Chief Investment Officer

    Standard Chartered Appoints Chief Investment Officer

    Standard Chartered promotes a 25-year financial markets veteran internally to become its chief investment officer based in Singapore, according to an internal memo.

    Standard Chartered appoints Steve Brice as its new chief investment officer, according to an internal memo, as well as head of the discretionary portfolio management division.

    He will lead 25 investment professionals and chair the bank’s global investment committee which forms cross-asset investment views for the private and retail banking segments.

    A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the appointment.

    Brice is a longstanding Standard Chartered employee, spending 23 of his 25 years in the industry with the bank beginning in 1998. He was previously its Southeast Asia chief economist; head of research for the Middle East and South Asia; and South Africa head of global markets.

    Prior to joining Standard Chartered, he began his financial career with London-based consultant IDEA where he was its regional head of FX for Europe.

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  • UBS’ Top Private Bank Strategist Advances

    UBS’ Top Private Bank Strategist Advances

    A top adviser to UBS private bank co-head Iqbal Khan won a major promotion as part of a shake-up of the Swiss bank’s strategy and corporate development team.

    Zurich-based UBS is tasking Christian Zeinler with group strategy, from February 1, according to a memorandum. Zeinler is head of strategy and business development at UBS’ flagship $2.6 trillion wealth management arm – a job he will retain – as well as chief of staff to Iqbal Khan, who co-runs the unit.

    The change was set into motion by the departure of Michael Bonacker, who had held the top strategy job since 2017, and will leave by mid-year. Bonacker, an ex-McKinsey partner who held top roles at Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers, and Commerzbank before joining UBS, was instrumental in the Swiss bank’s strategy reviews since 2017.

    After Bonacker departs, UBS’ mergers and acquisitions chief, Malte Schwaner, will oversee corporate development, which will include M&A, equity investments, and benchmarking activities. Schwaner and Richard Barrett, who oversees UBS performance assessment and analytics, will report financing chief Kirt Gardner.

    The changes are also in connection to the advancement of Sabine Keller-Busse to the top Swiss job, Gardner said in the memo. The 60-year-old finance chief also poached from Morgan Stanley last month for a key finance role.

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