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  • Bangkok Tops List as World’s Most Expensive City for Renters, Reveals DWS Housing Affordability Review 2025

    Bangkok Tops List as World’s Most Expensive City for Renters, Reveals DWS Housing Affordability Review 2025

    Bangkok, Thailand’s capital city, has distinguished itself as the least affordable city in the world for renters, as per the Housing Affordability Review 2025. The report, compiled by Germany’s DWS, indicates that the average middle-class family in Bangkok spends nearly 79% of their disposable income on renting a two-bedroom apartment.

    The Root of High Rental Rates

    The city’s inflated rental prices are primarily due to a scarcity of condominiums. The second quarter saw condo availability drop to a 16-year low, a situation exacerbated by climbing construction costs and high-interest rates.

    Global Ranking of Affordability

    Following Bangkok, Mumbai and Mexico City were ranked second and third as the least affordable cities, with renters spending 66% of their disposable income on rent. Hong Kong came in fourth at just over 60%, and Johannesburg, South Africa, was in fifth place at approximately 58%. These cities are part of a group of 24 global cities with the most challenging rental markets. Other Asian cities on this list include Manila, Beijing, Hanoi, and Singapore.

    The study analyzed the rent to median disposable income ratio in 80 cities. A lower ratio signifies more affordable rent, with the worldwide average ratio standing at 38%.

    Cities with More Affordability

    On the other end of the spectrum, Salt Lake City was deemed the most affordable city, with a ratio of 20%. Leipzig and Austin followed closely, both featuring a ratio of 23%.

    Cities that ranked lower in affordability experienced a more significant decrease in affordability ratios compared to those ranking higher. Additionally, these cities saw their remaining spending power increase at a slower rate compared to cities demonstrating more economic resilience.

    Disposable Income After Rent

    The report also calculated the disposable income households have left after paying their monthly rent. Singapore topped the list globally with approximately $8,000 of leftover income, which is twice the global average. San Francisco followed with $7,650, and Abu Dhabi was third with $7,000.

    According to the report, wealthier cities typically benefit from high-income levels and balanced housing costs, which allows residents to retain robust purchasing power even after paying rent.

    Questions & Answers

    What factors contribute to Bangkok’s high rental rates?
    A lack of available condos, heightened construction costs, and high-interest rates are all factors that contribute to Bangkok’s high rental rates.

    Which city has the most affordable rental market?
    Salt Lake City is considered the most affordable city for renters, with a rent to disposable income ratio of 20%.

    Which cities have the highest disposable income after rent payments?
    Singapore, San Francisco, and Abu Dhabi lead the world in terms of disposable income after rent, with Singapore households having an average of $8,000 left over.

  • HSBC Adds Coinbase to Crypto Ban List

    HSBC Adds Coinbase to Crypto Ban List

    Despite the growing embrace of cryptocurrencies among institutions and retail investors, HSBC is sticking to its policy of avoiding virtual currencies and stocks correlated to them.

    Europe’s largest bank in Europe, with total assets of $2.715 trillion, is likely to avoid Coinbase’s newly listed COIN stock because of lingering worries about crypto’s role in money laundering and criminal activity.

    HSBC has no appetite for direct exposure to virtual currencies and limited appetite to facilitate products or securities that derive their value from virtual currencies. This is not a new policy, Ankit Patel, HSBC corporate media relations manager, told crypto news platform Coindesk.

    Last week, the bank confirmed that it stopped customers of its online trading platform InvestDirect from adding MicroStrategy stock to their portfolios, calling them a «virtual currency product.» The company holds about $5.5 billion in bitcoin, or about 80 percent of its $6.8 billion market capitalization.

    Coinbase debuted on Nasdaq last Wednesday in a direct listing, in what was seen as another key step towards cryptocurrencies becoming a mainstream medium of exchange.

    The listing of Coinbase’s means that even if average investors don’t want to buy or sell cryptocurrencies on their own, they can still can invest in the cryptocurrency economy by taking a stake in one of its biggest players. After a day of trading, the U.S.’ largest cryptocurrency exchange had a market capitalization of $86 billion.

    To stay competitive amid client demand for digital assets, financial sector giants have ramped out their offerings. These include BNY Mellon, which announced the introduction of crypto custodial services and Morgan Stanley, which will roll out a bitcoin offering to wealth management clients and is reportedly mulling exposure in Bitcoin through its investment arm, Counterpoint Global. Goldman Sachs has also said it would offer investments in bitcoin and other digital assets to its wealth clients.

    Outside of the U.S., notable global banks that have also launched crypto offerings include Standard Chartered and DBS.

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  • Maybank Malaysia vaults into list of world’s top 500 brands

    Maybank Malaysia vaults into list of world’s top 500 brands

    Maybank has made it into the world’s top 500 brands for the first time, after it was named in Brand Finance’s Global 500 Brands – the only Malaysian bank and one of two Malaysian brands to be included in this prestigious listing. Maybank achieved a brand valuation of US$4.2 billion (RM17.3 billion), a 32% increase from last year’s valuation of US$3.16 billion according to its statement.

    Maybank said the group also maintained its position as the top bank brand in Malaysia for the fifth year running, improving its previous rating of “AAA-” to “AAA”.

    At the same time, it registered an increase in the Brand Strength Index (BSI) to 86/100 this year from 82/100 previously. BSI is a key driver that contributes to brand valuation and determines the strength of a brand.

    Maybank was among only eight Asean brands listed in the global ranking. It was placed 494 in the world’s top 500 most valuable brands list.

    Maybank group president and CEO Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said the recognition was a reflection of Maybank’s sustained efforts in building closer relationships with its stakeholders and focusing on delivering consistent value through all its products and services.

    “It is definitely a great honour for Maybank to be listed among the top brands in the world today. We believe it also demonstrates how a homegrown brand from Malaysia is defining new standards and raising the bar in the global stage with support from all its stakeholders.”

    Farid added that Maybank’s strategy in developing a meaningful brand experience was centred on its mission to humanise financial services, as well as its commitment to being at the heart of communities where it operates.

    “While we will continue to strengthen our brand positioning across all our engagement channels, we are also focusing on providing next-generation customer experience given that technology is rapidly influencing our lifestyles and the way people do banking today,” he said.

    Brand Finance in its annual survey, values the brands of thousands of the world’s biggest companies. The results of this analysis are then ranked with the world’s 500 most valuable brands featured in the Brand Finance Global 500 report.

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  • Vietnam’s PV Power to list with billion-dollar market cap

    Vietnam’s PV Power to list with billion-dollar market cap

    PV Power, the country’s second largest power producer, will list on the Ho Chi Minh bourse this month with a market capitalization of $1.5 billion. The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) has approved that the firm lists 2.34 billion shares (trading code POW) on January 14 at VND14,900 (64 cents) per share. This would bring the market capitalization of PV Power to VND34.9 trillion ($1.5 billion).

    PV Power finished its last transaction on UPCoM, the market for unlisted public companies, on December 27 at VND16,000 (69 cents) per share.

    PV Power was established in 2007 with 100 percent capital from the state. The company finished equitization in the middle of last year with a charter capital of VND23.42 trillion ($1 billion).

    State-owned oil and gas giant PetroVietnam remains PV Power’s largest stakeholder, with 79.94 percent of its charter capital. Foreign investors currently own 14.3 percent. The company is subject to a foreign ownership cap of 49 percent.

    PV Power produces and sells electricity. It also imports and distributes coal and operates five electricity plants. It is the second largest power producer in the country after national utility Vietnam Electricity.

    In the 2016-2018 period, PV Power’s revenues were VND28-30 trillion ($1.2-1.29 billion), 96 percent of which came from selling electricity.

    As of September 30, 2018, its total asset value was VND61.4 trillion ($2.64 billion) and its equity was VND26.55 trillion ($1.14 billion).

    Its dividend rate for last year is expected to be 3 percent and is set at 6 percent this year.

  • Vietjet CEO becomes first Vietnamese Bloomberg game changer

    Vietjet CEO becomes first Vietnamese Bloomberg game changer

    Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao is in Bloomberg’s list of 50 people who’ve been business game changers in 2018. Thao is the first Vietnamese citizen to be named in the Bloomberg list, which highlights key players in all fields, from finance to fashion, media to manufacturing, banking to biotech, politics to philanthropy, entertainment to energy. The founder and CEO of budget carrier Vietjet Air wants to take on regional giants like Indonesia’s Lion Air and Malaysia’s AirAsia Group Bhd.

    The carrier has forecast that the number of passengers it serves this year will rise 40 percent to 24 million, as it begins to tap into Vietnam’s growing middle class by expanding overseas routes.

    The expansion further changes the face of Vietnam’s aviation market that has been long dominated by state-owned Vietnam Airlines JSC, as VietJet offers millions of Vietnamese customers who have never flown the chance to buy a cheap ticket, Bloomberg says.

    Thao, 48, has extensive experience in doing business in Vietnam and abroad in many fields, including finance, banking, aviation, realestate, and retail.

    She launched Vietjet in 2011. The airline now leads the domestic market with a 45 percent share. It operates 385 flights daily within Vietnam and to Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, mainland China, Thailand, Myanmar, and Malaysia.

    The carrier made an IPO on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange on February last year, becoming the first airline in Vietnam to list publicly.

    Thao also has interests in banking and real estate, which includes owning three beach resorts.

    Bloomberg says it comes up with the list by utilizing its worldwide resources, including the work of 2,400 journalists and unique, proprietary data and analytics.

    Also on the list this year are Jerome Powell, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, Amy Hood, chief financial officer at Microsoft Corp, and Ryan Coogler, director of Maverl’s movie Black Panther.

    Just last week, Thao was named the 44th most powerful woman in the world byForbes, up 11 places from last year.

    Forbes estimated the richest woman in Vietnam to have a net worth of around $2.6 billion.

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