Clark Jennings on US-China tariff truce
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Straits Times
35 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Trump says he hopes to 'save' Hong Kong democrat Jimmy Lai
FILE PHOTO: A prison van believed to be carrying Jimmy Lai arrives at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts building, where the founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily is set to take the witness stand for the first time in his national security collusion trial, in Hong Kong, China, November 20, 2024. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would see what he could do to help "save" detained Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, even though Chinese President Xi Jinping would not be "thrilled." "I'm going to do everything I can to save him," Trump told Fox News Radio in an interview. "We'll see what we can do ... we're going to do everything we can." Lai, 77, has pleaded not guilty to charges under Hong Kong's national security law of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, as well as to a separate charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material. He has been held in solitary confinement for more than 1,500 days since December 2020. Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, said Lai had been "a key orchestrator and participant in anti-China, destabilizing activities in Hong Kong." "We strongly oppose external forces using judicial cases as a pretext to interfere in China's internal affairs or to smear and undermine Hong Kong's rule of law," he said. Trump has said he would raise Lai's case as part of negotiations with China over trade and tariffs. On Monday, the U.S. and China extended a tariff truce for another 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other's goods. On Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade officials from the two sides will meet again within the next two or three months to discuss the future of the economic relationship. REUTERS
Business Times
35 minutes ago
- Business Times
Shifting appetite among Asia's rich could lift investments in alternative assets
[SINGAPORE] More of Asia's richest are viewing private-market investments as a core part of their portfolios, say senior private bankers. With allocations ranging from the single digits up to 15 per cent of their portfolios to the asset class, this could translate to as much as US$1.5 million per investor. If this trend continues, the total assets under management (AUM) in private markets by individuals, each with a net worth of US$10 million, could hit US$1.39 trillion in Asia by 2028, going by a back-of-the-envelope estimate by The Business Times. The sum was derived from Knight Frank's 2025 Wealth Report, which forecasts the number of these wealthy Asia-based individuals to grow to 928,722 in 2028. The report noted that this group stood at 854,465 in 2024, meaning that as much as US$1.28 trillion could be invested in alternative assets . Alternative assets, which comprise private-market investments in equity, credit, real estate and infrastructure, have traditionally been the domain of institutional investors such as pension funds, but rich retail investors are now wanting a piece of the action. As such assets are less liquid and transparent than publicly traded assets such as stocks and bonds, countries generally impose guard rails to restrict the access that retail investors have to these private assets. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up In Singapore, investors who are not private-banking clients – but whose investable assets range from S$5 million at DBS and UOB to US$10 million at Standard Chartered – would generally need to be accredited investors to invest in such instruments. Nicholas Cheng, head of private markets group at Standard Chartered Global Private Bank, told BT that there is a clear trend of private-banking clients in Asia allocating more to alternative assets over the past five years. 'Previously, private-market investments might have been seen as opportunistic, 'nice-to-have' additions. Now, they are increasingly viewed as core, strategic components of a well-diversified portfolio. Clients are actively building long-term allocations, understanding the role these assets play in their overall wealth strategy.' In general, StanChart's private-banking clients allocate 15 per cent of their portfolios to such assets. Diversifying away from public markets Such investors find alternative assets appealing because these instruments allow them to diversify away from equities, which can be volatile in times of uncertainty. In addition, Asia's rich want to increase their exposure to private companies, which may want to stay that way. Chee Jiun Wen, head of alternative investments at Bank of Singapore, said: 'As companies stay private for longer, investors seek alpha generation, and as the emphasis on portfolio diversification grows, we believe opportunities and access to alternative investments should only continue to expand for our clients.' Hamilton Lane, one of the world's biggest private-market investment firms with more than US$958 billion in AUM and supervision, said that 87 per cent of US companies with revenues exceeding US$100 million were private as at early-2022 – and this was just the year following 2021, a record year for initial public offerings, when companies raised US$316.6 billion on US bourses. Private-banking clients are also comfortable with the illiquidity premium that alternative assets offer. This is the premium that these investments offer to investors, to entice them away from publicly traded, more-liquid instruments. Mathieu Forcioli, global and Asia-Pacific regional head of alternatives, wealth and premier solutions at HSBC, said: 'Private-market investing introduces an element of illiquidity in an investment portfolio. Over the past years, our clients have been assessing the amount of illiquidity risk they can take, and have been able to invest outside publicly traded instruments, with the aim of improving the risk/return profile of their portfolio.' HSBC recommends an 11 per cent allocation to alternative assets for those with medium-risk portfolios. As Asia's rich become more familiar and comfortable with investing in alternative assets, they are likely to continue raising their exposure, market observers said. Investing more in alternative assets The private banks that BT approached say their clients' AUM in alternative assets has grown strongly in the past few years. Declining to go into specifics, UOB reported that the figure jumped more than five times between January 2023 and May 2025. At Bank of Singapore, the inflows to alternative investments surged more than 80 per cent in 2024 from the year prior. The Monetary Authority of Singapore's latest annual survey of the local asset-management industry showed the total AUM in alternatives hit nearly S$1.39 trillion in 2024, up 14 per cent from 2023. In private equity and venture capital, the biggest component, AUM rose 20 per cent to S$789 billion. With increasing sophistication in alternative assets, UOB Private Bank's clients are diversifying within private markets. Wong Meng Keet, head of managed products and alternative investments at UOB Private Bank, said: 'Previously, clients interested in alternatives would typically have a combination of investments in hedge funds and private equity. Today, they are spreading their investments across a wider range of options, and it is not unusual for clients to have a combination of private equity, private credit, private real estate and private infrastructure.' Banks are launching more products to cater to the expanding appetite, including the so-called semi-liquid funds that offer periodic redemption opportunities. As open-ended funds that provide ongoing access, investors can stay invested for as long as they choose. They are more palatable to retail investors, compared to the closed-ended funds that cater largely to institutional investors with deeper pockets and longer investment horizons. US$50 million ticket size On the higher end of the wealth spectrum, DBS Private Bank and Hamilton Lane launched a product in June catering to the bank's ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients and family offices. With a minimum ticket size of US$50 million, each of these clients can set up a portfolio of private-asset investments tailored by Hamilton Lane, in its first such partnership with DBS. The product has 'garnered strong interest' among DBS' clients since its launch. The bank signed a mandate with a family office where the chief investment officer hails from a commodities trading background and is 'relatively unfamiliar' with investing in private assets, DBS told BT. Kerrine Koh, head of South-east Asia at Hamilton Lane, said the partnership sprung from the firm's observation that UHNW investors often have 'unique objectives, risk tolerance and risk preferences', and that off-the-shelf products may not meet these needs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, accredited investors who are not private-banking clients can access alternative assets at StanChart and OCBC. These are individuals with net personal assets of more than S$2 million, or with an annual income of S$300,000. Priority banking clients at Stanchart with at least S$200,000 in deposits and who are accredited investors in Singapore can make investments in private-market funds. These include a European private-credit fund that the bank launched in February. Accredited investors at OCBC have three private-market funds to choose from. The bank started offering the Blackstone Private Credit Fund in 2022, and added the Apollo Aligned Alternatives Fund this year. This month, the bank added a private-credit fund with a Singapore-dollar share class for the first time, to cater to those who prefer to invest in the local currency, he added. Strong interest in these products 'propelled our private-market funds' AUM 2.5 times in one year', said Timothy Liew, head of investments at OCBC.
Business Times
35 minutes ago
- Business Times
New Zealand may be poised to loosen foreign home-buyer ban
[WELLINGTON] New Zealand may be just weeks away from deciding whether to loosen a ban on foreigners buying houses, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said. Appearing on the Bloomberg Businessweek show on Bloomberg Television on Thursday (Aug 14) in New York, Willis said that the government is looking at allowing foreigners who gain residency under the so-called 'golden visa' programme to purchase residential property. 'Those talks have been underway and you would expect that a decision would be made by our Cabinet in the coming weeks,' she said. Since 2018, only citizens, tax residents and nationals from Australia and Singapore, due to trade agreements, can freely buy houses in the South Pacific nation. The ban was introduced by then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern due to concerns about unaffordable housing and following a passport-for-sale scandal involving PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. But the current government has come under pressure to lift it, especially after it revamped its golden visa in April this year to attract more high-net-worth people to the country. That has left would-be investors in the position of being able to get a visa to live in New Zealand but unable to buy a house. Willis said that the government has been 'delighted' by the response to the golden visa, called Active Investor Plus. 'Hundreds of people have applied for those visas within the first few months, pledging over a billion US dollars in New Zealand funds,' she said. 'That reflects two things. New Zealand is a safe, secure place in a world that increasingly is less so, and people like the idea of having that residency in New Zealand. Second, they can see that many of our investment opportunities are currently under-capitalised.' As at Aug 8, there have been 267 applications for the golden visa covering 862 people, Immigration New Zealand data shows. Those applications amount to a potential total minimum investment of NZ$1.6 billion (S$1.2 billion). More than 40 per cent are from the US. 'Investing in New Zealand is a good bet,' Willis said. 'Your own little slice of paradise. It's beautiful. I think the world should be looking at New Zealand, we have great prospects.' BLOOMBERG
