Asia

Moody’s downgraded China’s long-term credit rating last week, after lowering its outlook on the country from stable to negative in March. As such, the rating downgrade was not a sudden development. This cut takes China’s rating from Aa3 to A1, and the outlook was changed back to stable. It was… Read More »

For too long, poor corporate governance has held Japan back in the global race. But with shareholders beginning to speak up, and companies starting to listen, this could be set to change. As recently as 2013 nearly 600 of the 1400 largest listed companies in Japan had no outside directors… Read More »

Financial conditions in China are tightening as policy makers are attempting to reverse some of the stimulus from last summer Policy is tightening in ChinaChina has been taking pre-emptive steps since the start of the year to tighten financial conditions. The improvement in both the domestic and external outlook since… Read More »

Pakistan is one of the most under-penetrated markets for banking in the developing world. An upturn in the credit cycle, benign domestic economic conditions, and favorable demographics underpin the banks’ growth potential. To get a sense of the growth potential available in Pakistan, consider the following: Only around 12% of… Read More »

India has bounced back from November’s shock demonetisation, part of a strategy to wean people off cash and cut corruption. Last November, Narendra Modi triggered an economic earthquake in India. By suddenly making the country’s whole stock of 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes worthless and giving people only a short… Read More »

Asian equities have delivered solid returns in the first four months of the year, largely buoyed by a pickup in the global trade cycle which has boosted economic growth and led to a turnaround in earnings expectations. Meanwhile, the Trump-related risks flagged in January have failed to materialise. For all… Read More »

High economic growth rates and fantastic demographics are just two of the reasons why we like investing in Asian frontier markets. Vietnam’s economy grew by 6.2% in 2016 and we believe it will remain above 6% in 2017. Pakistan’s economy is expected to grow by more than 5% this year,… Read More »