More Opportunities for Indian College Graduates in the Far East

It’s certainly interesting to use Indian engineering colleges and other schools as a financial barometer. In the last five years, Indian schools such as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have seen international openings for their students in Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and the UAE. It used to be that applicants could only look at the US and UK for such jobs. As Sapna Agarwal, the head of career development services for IIM Bangalore has seen,

“Over the past five years, we have seen a definite shift. Postings in the US and the UK have become almost negligible. Postings in the Far East, including Singapore and Hong Kong, have increased. Japan is a new destination. The Middle East has been added as an overseas job destination.”

As Debasis Deb, the chairman of the career development centre IIT Kharagpur said,
“The demand for IIT graduates has seen a consistent growth from newer countries including Taiwan and Japan. IIT graduates are hired by architecture firms in Singapore, while mostly electronics firms in Japan pick our graduates.”

Read the full article for more details.

JD.com Creates Finance Spin-off

JD.com, the large Chinese online retailer, has announced that they are spinning off their finance business for $2.1 billion. The new group will be called JD Finance and will help to start a rival to Ant Financial which is owned by Alibaba.

Chinese businesses are finding a new avenue for success with payment services and other online products that cater to their emerging digital savvy middle class.

As The New York Times explains,

“Along with its core payment platform for consumers and companies, JD Finance is venturing into credit scoring and loans. It has teamed up with China UnionPay, the state-backed financial company, to work on online payments, credit cards and rural financing programs. The spinoff will allow JD Finance to move more aggressively. A separate payments business, with only Chinese investors, can apply for certain financial licenses, enabling JD Finance to offer products that invest in securities and mutual funds.”

 

China Takes Over the Fintech Sector

Move over America and make room for China. That’s the latest we are hearing about “fintech” or financial technlogy, as China has become the global investment leader in this area. This is according to Citigroup’s latest report. In the first ninth months of last year, China accounted for more than 50% of all fintech investments around the world. They also more than doubled their worldwide share of this investment category.

Researches are attributing this change to what they are calling “Chinese dragons.” This is a term for upstarts in Asia like Ant Financial, JD Finance, Lu.com and others.

Learn much more about these changes and the factors involved in them.

You Can’t Snapchat in China…But You Can Work for Them There

So this is interesting. If Snapchat is banned in China, then why is Snapchat hiring there? Apparently, Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., is opening a technology office in Shenzhen to focus on Spectacles. This is their camera-equipped sunglasses that enable the user of the sunglasses to send pictures to their Snapchat accounts.

This new office employs about 20 people already and its focus is on research and development. Now, the US startup is looking for engineers to join their “first core team in China” as the recruitment ad says. They identified that their ideal candidates would have experience working for one of China’s big technology firms: Alibaba (BABA, Tech30), Baidu (BIDU, Tech30) and Tencent (TCEHY).

Another very appealing incentive is that the Shenzhen employees could also have the opportunity to transfer to Snap’s US team.

Australia Partnering with Asia

Australia Trade Minister Steve Ciobo is in Jakarta again for talks about the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), which the countries hope to have finalized by the end of the year.

As Mr. Ciobo said, “What today’s GDP figures show is that we can’t be complacent about growth, we have got to maintain vigilance, not only with respect to our domestic reform process but also with respect to opening up opportunities for Australian exports.”

He continued, “I believe that the Asian region in general appreciates that trade and engagement with the world is crucial to higher living standards in the future and that is a point of contrast to other parts of the world where they have adopted a more protectionist approach.”

Mr. Ciobo explained that he wanted to reduce the tariff barrier for Australian sugar. As he said,

“Australian sugar exporters currently face a higher tariff barrier then other sugar exporters throughout the region. I want to make sure that, if we possibly can, we can reduce that tariff barrier.”

According to the article, Australia is also negotiating about the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This is a trade deal which would be with the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) and also with China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand.

Singapore An Up-And-Coming Financial Center

You may not be paying much attention to Shanghai, but you may want to start. According to a recent survey by the Global Financial Centers Index, Shanghai is one of the top picks among the world’s cities to be a significant global financial center in the coming years. Other new cities that should be watched are: Qingdao, Shenzhen, Dalian and Beijing. The index is based on statistical data and a poll of financial professionals.

Certainly, London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo remain as five of the leading centers in the ranking this year. Singapore was 42 points behind New York, and ranked third. Hong Kong ranked fourth. Tokyo was in fifth while Sydney was actually 11th and Melbourne was 24th.

China Focuses on Green Finance

The G20 Summit was held this year in Hangzhou, China on September 4-5 and one of the major topics might surprise many. Green finance was on the agenda for the first time. Prior to the Summit, a G20 Green Finance Study Group that was co-chaired by China and the UK and had more than 80 people involved issued a report. They identified the major challenges to green finance and laid out key options to consider.

As described on one website, “Green finance, generally defined, is the act of setting up market and policy tools for the financing of public and private sustainable investments. The main goals for green finance in China are to increase return on green investments and decrease the return on polluting investments. In this way, green finance can help restructure China’s market towards a more sustainable economy, and reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Learn more about Green Finance and about the steps that were taken at the G20 Summit.

 

South Korea and London Finance Ministers Meet

South Korea’s finance minister recently met with the City of London’s mayor to work closely after the aftermath of Brexit.

Jeffery Mountevans, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, met with Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho. The two plan to create a closer connection to prevent contraction in trade and investment for each country.

Lord Mounevans was on a five-day trip to South Korea to celebrate the launch of a British fintech firm’s local unit, Xntree Korea.

As Yoo said, “South Korea expects that new Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership will help ease uncertainties in the world financial market.”

Colt PrizmNet Expands Its Footprint

Colt PrizmNet just announced that is connecting to Equinix’s International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers in Hong Kong and Singapore. Colt is a financial extranet and can now interconnect with key FX centers around the world and through Asia. The move will now double the size of Colt PrizmNet’s footprint in Hong Kong and Singapore.

As Richard man, the Head of Solution Sales, Capital Markets for Colt in Asia Pacific explained, “By expanding the availability of Colt PrizmNet in Hong Kong and Singapore to customers hosted in Equinix IBX data centres in each city, we are able to provide an even more flexible and cost-effective solution. Colt PrizmNet is a managed connectivity solution available to financial companies of all sizes wanting to gain an advantage by improving their international reach and their ability to trade all of Asia’s major FX centres.”

A Boost for Chinese Cinema

Imax China and China Media Capital recently announced that they have formalized the $50 million Imax China Film Fund that they unveiled one year ago. They are now planning to co-finance 15 Mandarin-language films in the next three years. They will contribute $3-$7 million per project.

Imax CEO Richard Gelfond said, “Our strong relationships with China’s most acclaimed studios and filmmakers mirror those we’ve established in Hollywood, thanks to the support of our valued partner CMC,. The fund will further deepen our ties in the China film industry and allow us to generate the highest-quality Mandarin content for Chinese and international audiences alike. Our commitment to the success of our business in China and its filmmaking community is unwavering. Together, we are excited to launch a new and exciting chapter of filmmaking in China.”

Li said, “The fund is an outgrowth of CMC’s privileged capability and extensive connections in the Chinese film industry and Imax’s beloved brand and differentiated cinematic experience. We hope this will support the creation of more tentpole Mandarin-language films.”