Market Trends & Funding Strategies - Multinational companies are increasingly borrowing in RMB (remmbb) to seek cheaper funding and hedge against US-China relations [1][2] - Total RMB borrowing by overseas companies (Panda bond issuance) reached a record high of almost 200 billion RMB (remmbb) in 2024 [1] - Panda bond issuance in Q1 2024 exceeded 40 billion RMB (remmbb), marking the second-highest quarter on record [1] Strategic Shift & Regulatory Impact - Global companies are shifting their strategy to raise debt locally for their Chinese subsidiaries [2] - Chinese authorities are now allowing companies to transfer funds raised from Panda bonds outside of mainland China [2] - This "in China for China" strategy helps companies reduce transaction costs and hedge against potential financial restrictions due to US-China tensions [2] Panda Bond Issuers - International organizations and foreign governments, such as Hungary, have also issued panda bonds [3]

The European Union is making a new push for deeper, more integrated capital markets in an effort to reduce a competitiveness gap visa v the United States and boost its own growth. Given the lack of dynamism in the economy, the issue has shut up the top of the political agenda. For many in the business and political elite, the leakage of EU listings to the US, it's not just a missed opportunity, but a structural threat.To fix that, earlier this year, the European Commission presented the Savings and Investme ...

[Music] Japan is having fewer babies than ever [Music] before. Meanwhile, the number of very elderly people is at a record high. This year brings the country to a tipping point known as the 2025 problem with Japan's huge postwar baby boom generation now all in their mid to late 70s.When it comes to living with a shrinking and aging population, the data clearly shows that Japan is ahead of other countries, but also that its path isn't unique, and neither are the potential solutions. So, the rest of the world ...

Japanese anime has shifted over the years from something niche to a global phenomenon. One of Japan's most potent vectors of soft power. Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, Akira, and a galaxy of others have become touchstones of culture for 800 million fans worldwide, including sports stars, musicians, and even politicians.International studios and investors have seen the appeal of its extensive back catalog of characters and plot lines, at least to superhero franchises have founded. The global mark for anime ...

The FT does this kind of lighthearted thing every year where we have a stock picking competition and in my list of shorts I put Micro Strategy and I got annihilated and what I want to do is understand what it is that I'm missing here. Okay. Um what are people missing about Bitcoin and what are they missing about strategy.This is Michael Sailor. His company, Strategy, owns more Bitcoin than any other on the planet. Right now, that's about $50 billion worth.And in the crypto world, that makes him kind of a bi ...

The world is facing an alarming surge in forest fires. Between 2001 and 2023, the amount of tree cover the world lost each year due to fires rose dramatically. But new AI supported technology could help slow some blazes.In March, Farsat, a nonprofit collaboration of corporations, wildfire authorities, and others, launched the first of some 50 planned firefighting satellites. They all make up an AI enhanced network designed to cover the globe and detect flames before they spread beyond a 5x 5 m square area i ...

Hello everyone and thank you um um Peter for being with us. Right. I know you're very I'm now the dark lord by the way, not the prince.The prince of darkness gone up. I've gone up in the world. This was going to be a very very serious conversation.Um and we will get to some serious matters. But um Janine who's very cheeky uh has now forced me to start by asking you why the Prince of Darkness. Uh very simply because in the 1990s when I was younger than I am um I had been the Labour Party campaign director in ...

China has high hopes that the C919, the country's first domestically made passenger jets, could challenge the aircraft manufacturing markets currently dominated by Boeing and Airbus and showcase technological advancements made by its statebacked plane maker Comarmac. But as the US China trade war escalates, analysts warned that the C919's heavy reliance on US suppliers for critical components could threaten plans to increase production and even hits maintenance supports for the C919 jets that are already in ...