介绍:
Welcome to Biz Today, coming to you from our studio in Beijing, live on radio and online via newsplusradio.cn. I'm Zhao Yang.
From today, every weekday at this time, I'll bring you the latest business and corporate news here in China and around the world.
[Now Let's check out some of the latest business news here in China and around the world.]
Joining me on the line today are
Paul Atherley, Chairman of The British Chamber of Commerce
Winston Wang, Managing director of Shipstone Group Ltd.
1, Trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region have wrapped up their latest meeting in Qingdao. China's Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng says they have agreed on actions to improve trade and economic growth across the Asia-Pacific.
He said the APEC economies would work on lowering trade barriers as part of last year's "Bali package" and repeated their commitment to a multilateral trade mechanism.
APEC members also reached consensus over global value chain cooperation, regional connectivity, reform and facilitating growth. The key focus of the meeting was regional economic integration.
Gao Hucheng says APEC members will push ahead with creating a vast free trade agreement for the Asia Pacific.
China has proposed to accelerate the Asia-Pacific economic integration process through the realization of a Free Trade Area. Why is this broader FTA proposed now? What's its different with TPP, RCEP(Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) Will they be contradicted?
What challenges will it face for it which will include many countries at different development level?
The US and Europe is also negotiating to set up a FTA between them, How would this interact with already existing trade agreements or those already in progress? Would this simply extend the WTO agreements or fundamentally be different?
2, Home prices in China continue to rise, but the growth has eased up a bit.
The National Bureau of Statistics says of 70 major Chinese cities, eight recorded declines in April, double the number recorded in March.
Price gains were recorded in 44 cities, down from 56 the month before.
For existing homes, prices increased in 35 cities month on month in April, down from 42 cities in March.
The new data shows that a majority of cities saw home prices up last month, despite shrinking volumes. Why do you think this happened? Is it macro-economic issue? Land demand-supply issue or else?
Home price growth in China continues to fall, a sign of cooling in the property sector. What factors have led to that?
Is it a U turn for china's real estate sector? Or separation between 1-2 tier cities and 3-4tier cities?
With price rises easing amid sluggish sales, local governments now worry about adverse effects on their economies.
On an annual basis, Shanghai's home prices were the biggest gainers in China in April, with 13.6 percent from a year earlier. It was the sixth straight month that the city led the nation. But take a look at cities surrounding it like Hangzhou, Wuxi, real estate sector is cooling. What's the possibility of the real estate bubble bursting?
With real estate cooling, what other sectors of the economy are at risk? Local government debt issue?
3, Swiss voters have rejected the world's highest minimum wage.
A referendum has seen the defeat of an initiative that was launched by the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions.
The union has been calling for a minimum wage of 22 Swiss francs, or roughly 25 US dollars an hour. That's over 155 RMB.
There were mixed views on the streets of Geneva.
(Soundbite in French, 0519 Geneva)7131EU
"No I am not really disappointed because I voted against it. We always think of others but I don't think it's ideal for Switzerland,"
"Yes, I am disappointed because there is still a big difference in wages between rich and poor people."
Supporters said the move was necessary for people to live a decent life. But critics argued that it would raise production costs and increase unemployment.
4, Alibaba's mega-IPO signals how much personal wealth is being created in China. Private banks see a boon, and have gone on a hiring spree to capture the opportunity.
While Alibaba's U.S. listing may become the biggest tech IPO in history, it is also just one of more than 120 Chinese tech listings over the past three years.
Combine that with surging share prices for firms such as social messaging giant Tencent Internet search provider Baidu, and private banking is having what many in the industry are calling a once in a lifetime opportunity to cultivate China's growing ranks of the super rich.
China already has more millionaires than any other country in Asia except Japan and is likely to have more than 1.3 million by next year.
Technology globally is one of the key wealth drivers, so it is not surprising we are seeing so much wealth being created in China given the size of the domestic market and surge in demand for everything through the digital space. In response, private banks are beefing up their teams in Hong Kong and Singapore - seen as gateways for offshore Chinese wealth.
Asia's biggest wealth manager UBS, for example, has increased its Asia Pacific wealth management staff by 8 percent this year.
What are advantages/competitiveness of those private banking?
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest bank, has got final approval to open a branch in Kuwait, which wants to free up its banking sector.
Thank you, Paul Atherley, Chairman of The British Chamber of Commerce
Winston Wang, Managing director of Shipstone Group Ltd.
You're listening to Biz Today on newsplusradio.cn. Coming up next is the Learning Today with Wu You.
