Asia Pacific

This is the 40th year of China’s reform and opening up. As pointed out in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Commu¬nist Party of China, “China will not close its door to the world; we will only become more and more open”.

Volatility in Asian dollar bonds has put the focus on marketing tactics deployed by banks, and in particular some Chinese securities houses, to win over investors — tactics that are distorting price discovery and putting pressure on the secondary market. Are standards falling in the region? Rashmi Kumar finds out.

China’s green bond market has quickly become one of the largest in the world. But a big part of the market still does not meet international standards. Matthew Thomas reports.

There have been numerous attempts to kickstart a Belt and Road bond market. But bankers are confused what that means in practice – and investors are unsure why they should care, writes Matthew Thomas.

The Development Bank of Mongolia is ready to return to the dollar bond market after a six year hiatus.

China’s substantial liberalisation of its onshore capital market has given a new lease of life to the internationalisation of the RMB. But if the RMB is to succeed as a truly global currency, China must reverse measures introduced three years ago, provide access to hedging as well as liquidity and risk-management instruments, and eventually allow its currency to float. Paolo Danese reports.

Has a country’s financial and capital market ever transformed as quickly as China’s has in the last year or so? From the launch of the Bond Connect scheme to the long overdue destruction of barriers to foreign ownership of banks, insurers and rating agencies, China has made dramatic steps to open up to the world.

Singapore dollar bond issuance came back to life in the third quarter of this year, setting the stage for a further ramp up in activity.

Thai energy drinks manufacturer Osotspa has raised Bt15.1bn ($459.5m) from its IPO, taking advantage of a quiet market and its familiarity among investors to price at the top of the range.

Vinpearl raised $125m on Thursday night after tapping a $325m exchangeable bond sold in June, managing to navigate the sea of red in equity markets.

A spike in US Treasury yields on Thursday had a knock-on effect on bond spreads in Asia, posing an additional challenge for issuers ready to head out the gates next week.

Taipei Fubon Bank has hired Sean Liu, a former ANZ loans banker, to its Singapore office.