eChina.news

Markets

Senior HSBC bankers face double blow as school-fee subsidy cut adds to job risks: sources

HSBC axes education benefits worth up to HK$300,000 as integration with Hang Seng Bank threatens jobs – but investors stay upbeat HSBC, the biggest lender in Hong Kong, will scrap an education subsidy programme for all newly hired or newly promoted senior executives from Friday, according to an internal memo seen by the South China Morning Post. Employees who were already in the bank’s top three grades as of Thursday, including managing directors and department heads, will continue to enjoy the benefit, which provides subsidies of up to HK$300,000 (US$38,240) for secondary school fees and HK$220,000 for primary school fees per year.

September 18, 2026

Markets

Standard Chartered sharpens its yuan advisory edge as currency’s global rise continues

Jerry Zhang, the bank’s global head of RMB commercialisation, explains how its cross-border network is built to unlock opportunities for clients Amid continuing geopolitical tensions and market uncertainty, greater use of the yuan for international trade settlements, raising funds, managing liquidity and allocating investments is a logical strategy for executives overseeing treasury and finance functions. At the end of 2025, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) had bilateral currency-swap agreements with more than 30 countries and regions, with an aggregate value in excess of 4.3 trillion yuan (US$641 billion), confirming ever-wider interest in accessing yuan liquidity to support trade and investment. There has also been steady progress in terms of regulation. At the Lujiazui Forum financial gathering held in June, PBOC governor Pan Gongsheng announced a pilot programme for offshore yuan foreign exchange trading in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. In addition, during an early July visit to Hong Kong, Pan set out 11 financial policy measures aimed at enhancing the city’s role as a global offshore yuan hub and boosting cross-border market connectivity.

September 18, 2026

Markets

C-Suite Roundtable: Navigating the Healthcare Capital Lifecycle from Seed to Post-Listing

Global investors and healthcare leaders gathered in Shanghai to discuss the healthcare capital lifecycle, focusing on cross-border investment, regulatory milestones and commercialisation pathways for life sciences innovation. Yesterday in Shanghai, more than 30 business leaders and investors from mainland China and Hong Kong gathered at a South China Morning Post C-Suite roundtable on “The Capital Lifecycle of the Healthcare Sector: From Seed to Post-Listing” held alongside BioShanghai Week 2026. The event, supported by IHH Healthcare North Asia, featured guest speakers Nisa Leung, founding managing partner of Aulis Capital, and Dr Kenneth Tsang, regional chief executive officer of IHH Healthcare North Asia. One theme that emerged was the gap between scientific innovation and the pathways needed to finance and commercialise it. Participants contrasted China’s growing biotech pipeline with deeper funding pools and markets in the US and Europe, while exploring out-licensing, “NewCo” structures and multi-regional clinical trials. Hong Kong’s role also came into focus. Participants discussed the city’s potential as a testing ground for healthcare innovation, and how takeover and delisting requirements affect biotech exit pathways.

September 18, 2026

Markets

ByteDance spin-off Anew Labs raises US$290m as AI drug developers enjoy fundraising boom

As AI’s role in drug design advances rapidly, Chinese start-ups are ramping up fundraising efforts China is seeing a fresh fundraising boom for artificial intelligence-powered drug developers, with start-ups including a ByteDance spin-off raising hundreds of millions of dollars this week as investors rush to back domestic challengers to Anthropic and Isomorphic Labs. Anew Labs, a Shanghai-based AI drug discovery firm and former unit of Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has raised US$290 million at a valuation of US$1.5 billion, according to an informed source. Investors included prominent venture capital firms such as HSG – formerly Sequoia China – IDG Capital and 5Y Capital, the source said, with ByteDance maintaining a 56 per cent stake. Anew Labs, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, operates a range of AI models for biomolecular structure prediction and design. They include AnewFold, its in-house foundation model, and Protenix, an open-source reproduction of AlphaFold 3, the most advanced biomolecular prediction AI model from Google DeepMind and its Isomorphic Labs spin-off.

September 18, 2026

Markets

How will rate increase in Japan affect capital flow in global financial markets?

Tokyo’s bond yields are seeing multi-decade highs as a central bank rate hike looms Japan is adding a fresh layer of uncertainty to global financial markets by potentially triggering a new bout of turmoil in bond markets and dampening the appetite for risk assets, as Tokyo’s pursuit of increased defence spending stokes concerns about fiscal discipline and sends sovereign bond yields to multi-year highs. The nation’s 10-year bond yield hit 3.03 per cent this week, a level not seen in three decades, while 30-year bond yields traded at 4.1 per cent, also nearing a 30-year high. The sell-offs, in which bond prices move inversely with yields, came amid speculation that Japan would seek to boost military spending to 3.5 per cent of its gross domestic product from around 2 per cent.

September 18, 2026

Markets

Hong Kong malls bet on Asian Games to boost footfall, tenant sales amid spending shifts

Mall operators are expanding sports-themed campaigns and experiences as retailers fight for consumer attention Hong Kong shopping mall operators are extending a strategy used during this year’s Fifa World Cup into the Asian Games, leveraging major sporting events to draw visitors and support tenant sales as retailers face competition from Shenzhen, overseas shopping and online spending. Sino Group is among the landlords expanding the strategy beyond tournament broadcasts. It expects foot traffic across four malls to increase during its Asian Games campaign, with selected merchants forecast to record double-digit year-on-year sales growth. The strategy builds on Sino’s experience during the World Cup, when foot traffic across three flagship malls rose by about 10 to 15 per cent year on year and overall sales recorded double-digit growth.

September 17, 2026

Markets

Pets and personal touches: how China’s luxury hotel market is changing

Today’s Chinese guests expect hotels to offer cultural experiences, personalised touches and a pet-friendly environment, Hang Lung director says Chinese customers’ growing desire for personal expression and cultural experiences has raised the game in the country’s hospitality sector, creating opportunities for leading lifestyle hotel brands, according to a director at Hong Kong developer Hang Lung Properties. “An ideal hotel is the one that can redefine hospitality with personal touches,” said Herman Chui, the company’s senior director of office, hotel and residence, during a media briefing on Wednesday. “Guests can select a teapot to their liking. The hotel also offers tailor-made key cards and other items. More importantly, a client is allowed to bring their pet along.” Chui’s remarks were made ahead of the inauguration of Hilton’s new Xi Zhe Wuxi hotel in Hang Lung’s Center 66 commercial complex in Wuxi, eastern China’s Jiangsu province.

September 17, 2026

Markets

Hong Kong property market gets reprieve on rates, but position remains precarious

Major banks hold rates steady despite Fed action, but some sellers and buyers are already anticipating increases later, agents say Hong Kong’s property market dodged an immediate hit from the Federal Reserve’s rate hike on Thursday as major local banks kept their prime rates unchanged, but another increase could puncture the market’s relatively fragile recovery, according to industry insiders. The decision should have no immediate impact on the local property market, said Joseph Tsang, chairman of JLL Hong Kong. “However, the market outlook depends on whether US rate hikes will continue.”

September 17, 2026

Markets

Fed rate hike risks worsening China’s economic divide

The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in three years in an effort to quell inflation partly caused by the war on Iran helping to drive up fuel prices. Policymakers voted unanimously on Wednesday to lift rates by 25 basis points to between 3.75 and 4.00 per cent. Sixteen of 18 committee members also said that they anticipate another rate hike this year. The increase will help inflation make a “timelier return” to a 2 per cent target, according to a statement, as new Fed...

September 17, 2026

Markets

Who’s in control of Japanese monetary policy? Tokyo or Washington?

Bessent’s intervention could have adverse implications for Japan’s economy, the BOJ’s credibility and tech-heavy stock markets in Asia Fast forward to today, and the chances of an increase have shot up to almost 100 per cent. In fact, expectations have shifted so dramatically that bond markets are pricing in a one percentage point rise in borrowing costs to 2 per cent by the third quarter of 2027. JPMorgan is even more hawkish and expects Japanese interest rates to rise to 2.25 per cent by the end of next year.

September 17, 2026

Markets

How Hong Kong’s new 5-year plan courts global capital with an eye on market dominance

Expanded investment products and stronger mainland-market links aim to deepen Hong Kong’s wealth-management edge and lure more international investors Hong Kong is broadening its equity markets, deepening its offshore yuan business and expanding further into gold trading under its first five-year plan for economic and social development, as the city seeks to defend its standing as Asia’s top financial centre and close the gap with London. At the core of Hong Kong’s strategy is a revitalised equities market. The local exchange is set to study looser listing rules – including adjusted market-capitalisation thresholds – for technology companies of “strategic importance” while broadening secondary listing channels by adding the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange to its recognised-bourse list.

September 17, 2026

Markets

Huawei quickens AI chip pace, promises next entrant 3 quarters early

Company says ‘performance-doubling’ Ascend 960DT training chip to debut in first quarter, followed by 960PR inference chip in third quarter Huawei Technologies said on Thursday that it would launch its next-generation artificial intelligence chip in the first quarter of 2027, moving the target launch forward by nine months as the firm aggressively expands its ecosystem amid China’s self-sufficiency push. David Wang Tao, rotating and acting chairman for Huawei, said on Thursday that the Ascend 960DT chip, an AI chip designed for model training, “with performance doubling”, would be “ready in the first quarter of 2027”, three quarters ahead of schedule. The Ascend 960PR, designed for AI model inference, would launch in the third quarter of 2027, a quarter earlier than expected. Speaking at the Huawei Connect 2026 conference in Shanghai, Wang said that the Ascend series would “continue to follow an annual upgrade cycle”, with the Ascend 970 and 980 launching in 2028 and 2029, respectively. The announcements came ahead of expected high-level trade talks between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump next week, where AI and semiconductor exports are set to top the technology agenda.

September 17, 2026