Asia Pacific

GDP has bounced back in Japan, but the country faces some stubborn problems, some long-standing — such as low inflation, consumption tax rollout and an ageing population — and some new, including an increasingly protectionist US. Philip Moore reports.

The Japanese issuer base for socially responsible investments (SRI) is growing steadily, with some borrowers adding social and sustainability bonds to the already busy green bond market. On the buy-side, an investor base well versed over many years in SRI is also taking to the asset class.

From Tokyo to Osaka, from Kyoto to Sapporo, Japan is going green. Or at least, its bonds are. After issuing just one green bond in 2014, Japan has made itself home to repeat issuers of socially responsible investments and sowed the seeds for environmentally conscious funds. But as the country continues to turn its attention to environmental, social and governance issues, it still faces an uphill battle of education and reforms to build a sustainable bond market. Morgan Davis reports.

Japan’s investors are hungry for yield. The likes of the Government Pension Investment Fund and the country’s regional banks, are going farther afield and widening their scope to include emerging markets as they hunt for returns. Jonathan Breen reports.

Mongolia’s Khan Bank has signed a $120m term loan, the largest in its history.

Thirteen companies that produce 30% of the world’s oil and gas have committed to reducing methane waste by a fifth, and will try to cut it by a third. The decision comes a few days after ExxonMobil, Chevron and Occidental joined an industry group on climate change. But analysts warn that there are many caveats to this good news.

The upcoming issuance of bills by the People’s Bank of China will improve management of offshore RMB (CNH) liquidity, but unless they come regularly and across tenors they may not help establish a dim sum yield curve.

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea made its much anticipated debut in the international debt market on Thursday, selling a $500m bond after years of flirting with investors.

S&P confirmed China’s rating due to positive policy moves, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said renminbi deposits in Hong Kong are on the upswing, and payment infrastructure provider Swift says RMB keeps the fifth position as a global payment currency.

The two largest equity index providers put A-shares in the spotlight this week, with FTSE Russell announcing it would begin including the stock in its emerging markets index from June 2019, and MSCI launching a consultation on granting A-shares a greater share of its EM indices.

Metropolis Healthcare has filed a draft red herring prospectus for an IPO with the Indian markets regulator, more than two years after it first hired banks for the deal.

China Life Insurance Co is planning a return to the offshore bond market for capital after a drop in its core solvency ratio, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is seeking shareholders’ blessing for a Basel III additional tier one (AT1) deal.