Latest news with #FrancisChan
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ant Group Global Unit Brings in $3 Billion Ahead of Spinoff
(Bloomberg) -- Jack Ma-backed Ant Group Co.'s international division generated nearly $3 billion in revenue for 2024, according to people familiar with the matter, setting the stage for a spinoff after the unit set up its own board last year. America, 'Nation of Porches' Maryland's Credit Rating Gets Downgraded as Governor Blames Trump NJ Transit Train Engineers Strike, Disrupting Travel to NYC NYC Commuters Brace for Chaos as NJ Transit Strike Looms Illinois Cuts Revenue Outlook on Economic, Federal-Funding Woes Ant International, which is headquartered in Singapore, has also produced two consecutive years of adjusted profit, the people said, requesting not to be named because the information isn't public. It isn't clear how the company calculates its adjusted Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, but the metric typically strips out non-recurring costs, restructuring charges and other items. The group as a whole grew profits by 61% in 2024 to 38.3 billion yuan ($5.3 billion), according to Bloomberg calculations based on filings from its affiliate Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Its latest revenue was not disclosed. Hangzhou-based Ant owns Alipay, a widely used digital payments app and financial services provider in China. Ant Group didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Ant International has been making inroads into Southeast Asia and expanding its business scope. It's been a key unit for Ant Group, which has been trying to bolster revenue growth by investing heavily into artificial intelligence and overseas. Ant International's IPO Valuation May Be $8-$24 Billion: React The global unit could fetch an initial public offering valuation of anywhere between $8 billion to $24 billion if it were to list in Hong Kong, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Francis Chan and Sharnie Wong said in a note earlier this month. They based that on the assumption that Ant International's profit share is 20% of the entire group, which is estimated to be worth $40 billion to $119 billion. The international arm initially catered to Chinese tourists traveling outside the country by enabling them to use Alipay to make payments abroad. That service has since expanded into a backbone for cross-border payments known as Alipay+ that can be used by other digital wallets. For example, when customers of GCash from the Philippines travel to South Korea, they can make payments with their regular app when they see the Alipay+ logo displayed at merchants. Alipay+ currently connects 1.7 billion user accounts across 36 digital wallets. Ant International has three other core businesses: Antom offers payment solutions for merchants, WorldFirst enables cross-border trade payment, and Embedded Finance has an AI-powered digital lending service and helps clients with treasury and foreign exchange management. The unit is overseen by Chairman Eric Jing, who is also chairman of Ant Group. Yang Peng is the CEO of Ant International. Ant Group has made changes to its overall business strategy since Chinese regulators forced it to scrap its blockbuster initial public offering in 2020. In 2023, the company proposed buying back as much as 7.6% of its shares under a repurchase plan that took Ant's valuation down to about $79 billion at the time — well off its peak of $280 billion prior to its aborted listing. Ant overhauled its structure last year and set up independent boards for three of its units including the international division, OceanBase, and Ant Digital Technologies. The overall group would explore going public in Hong Kong first instead of a dual Shanghai-Hong Kong listing like what it tried earlier, people familiar said in 2023. (Updates with analyst estimate on Ant's valuation. An earlier version corrected Eric Jing's title in the 10th paragraph.) Why Apple Still Hasn't Cracked AI Microsoft's CEO on How AI Will Remake Every Company, Including His Cartoon Network's Last Gasp DeepSeek's 'Tech Madman' Founder Is Threatening US Dominance in AI Race As Nuclear Power Makes a Comeback, South Korea Emerges a Winner ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Hong Kong investment banking jobs show signs of picking up
[HONG KONG] Hong Kong's investment banking job market is showing signs of a recovery, with the number of licensed professionals in the financial hub ticking up as initial public offerings have staged a rebound. The improved job landscape for investment bankers – with such jobs rising 0.5 per cent in February from the end of 2023 – comes on top off growth in wealth and asset management jobs, according to analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence (BI). Licenses for wealth management, private banking and family offices, are up about 5 per cent since 2023, while those for dealing in securities and futures were little changed, according to Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) data. Stock listings are poised to double to more than US$22 billion in 2025, boosting the ability of brokers to expand and rehire previously laid-off bankers, according to senior analyst Francis Chan. 'Hong Kong's finance job market could feature continuously robust opportunities in wealth management and a higher rate of re-employment of bankers,' Chan said in the report. 'Layoffs in investment banking and institutional segments including sales and research remain par for the course among global banks, and some bankers are finding new opportunities in expanding Chinese firms.' Citic Securities, together with its unit CLSA, China Merchants Securities and Haitong International Securities made most of the hires in the 12 months to February, Bloomberg News reported earlier. Almost 40 per cent of them were ex-UBS or Credit Suisse employees. Meanwhile, HSBC Holdings, Standard Chartered, Citigroup, UBS Group and DBS Group Holdings may increase hiring in wealth management and private banking to target mainland Chinese clients, according to the BI note. 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 The total number of licensed finance professionals reached 42,254 in February, up from 42,044 at the end of last year, BI said, citing data from the SFC. Private bankers and wealth managers in the financial hub continue to command a compensation premium – a trend that appears more enduring, while the comparatively higher pay for investment bankers may prove short-lived, the report said. Higher remuneration for wealth managers has also made Hong Kong more attractive than Singapore and mainland China, Chan said. Private banking relationship managers in the city made as much as 46 per cent more than those in Singapore, mainland China and Japan, while the pay gap for team and department heads reached up to three times, according to a 2024 Hays Asia survey. Hong Kong investment bankers made 29 to 159 per cent more at the analyst and associate level, and 39 to 90 per cent more for directors and managing directors, the survey found. BLOOMBERG
Mint
29-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
China's ICBC Posts Profit Drop as Mega Banks Feel Margin Pain
China's Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. posted a decline in profit in the first quarter as interest rate cuts weigh on the nation's biggest lenders. Net income slid 3.99% to 84.2 billion yuan at China's biggest bank, according to a Tuesday filing. China Construction Bank Corp. posted a similar decline while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and Bank of Communications Co. reported small profit gains. Margins contracted for all the banks from the end of 2024. The results offer a pulse check on the nation's largest state lenders as China gears up for a deepening trade spat with the US. Beijing policymakers have vowed to 'fully prepare' emergency plans to counter increasing external shocks, including the creation of new structural monetary policy tools and policy-based financial instruments. Earlier stimulus to boost economic growth, including prime and mortgage rate cuts, has taken a toll on banks. The sector's margins have slid to the narrowest on record, and profits could be further squeezed after the central bank governor reiterated earlier promises to implement a moderately loose monetary policy. The US's tit-for-tat tariffs could deliver a 2.5% to 3% blow to China's gross domestic product, prompting more easing and exacerbating the margin woes for Chinese lenders, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts led by Francis Chan wrote in a note last week. The big four lenders led by ICBC could see a margin squeeze of 14 to 18 basis points this year, they added, worse than the consensus decline of up to 14 basis points. Nevertheless, China has worked toward beefing up capital buffers at the state lenders for them to better service the world's second largest economy. It kicked off the sale of special sovereign bonds on Thursday, including 165 billion yuan worth of the notes to fund banks' recapitalization. A total of 500 billion yuan of such bonds will be issued by June 4.
Mint
25-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
Chinese Banks, HSBC and Standard Chartered Outlook to be Shadowed by US Tariffs
Chinese lenders including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp., Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and Bank of China Ltd. will report earnings as the US-China trade war threatens to erode their margins. China may need more stimulus measures including rate cuts as the economy faces tariff risks, which could dim margin outlook for these banks, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Francis Chan and Nicholas Ng. In the latest twist, US President Donald Trump appears to be softening his stance toward China. The Trump administration is considering reducing tariffs on Chinese imports, in some cases by more than half, in a bid to deescalate tensions, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. While Trump said his administration was talking with China on trade, Chinese officials have dismissed speculation that progress has been made in bilateral communications, a sign of ongoing disconnect between the two nations. HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc are also vulnerable to such risks, with BI saying almost 40% of their revenue would be impacted by declining regional trade volume. Highlights to lookout for: Monday: Oriental Land's fourth-quarter operating profit likely surged 51%, consensus shows. The Osaka Expo and opening of Junglia in Okinawa, along with heat waves may be risk factors to traffic heading into the summer, Jefferies said. The key focus will be the new midterm plan, which is expected alongside the results. Its pricing strategy and capital allocation will be watched closely. Tuesday: Outlooks from Bank of China , ICBC , CCB and AgBank will be closely watched as uncertainty from US tariffs may dim earnings. Wednesday: Tokyo Electron's fourth-quarter operating profit likely rose 25%, consensus estimates show, and it probably beat its own guidance, BI said. That was helped by strong demand for its high bandwidth memory chip for artificial intelligence. Operating profit in fiscal 2026 will likely rise modestly from a high base in 2025, when China stocked up on chip tools ahead of export curbs, according to BI. Thursday: No major earnings of note. Friday: Standard Chartered's quarterly adjusted pretax income likely rose 1.6%. The lender's Asia focus makes it vulnerable to the trade war, which threatens its revenue, BI said. Lending margins should narrow sequentially, in keeping with interest rate cuts. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. First Published: 25 Apr 2025, 07:27 AM IST
Bloomberg
25-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Chinese Banks, HSBC and Standard Chartered Outlook to be Shadowed by US Tariffs
Chinese lenders including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp., Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and Bank of China Ltd. will report earnings as the US-China trade war threatens to erode their margins. China may need more stimulus measures including rate cuts as the economy faces tariff risks, which could dim margin outlook for these banks, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Francis Chan and Nicholas Ng.
