The 4.75 million members of Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) could save up to HK$50 billion (US$6.4 billion) in fees over a 10-year period after its electronic platform’s full implementation next year, according to the city’s retirement schemes regulator. The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) revised its original estimate made a few years…
China is likely to see 300,000 driverless cabs operate in its four top-tier cities as early as 2030, buoyed by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and its highly competitive electric vehicle (EV) sector, UBS said on Thursday. The number of robotaxis on the mainland was expected to jump to 4 million by the late 2030s,…
Hong Kong’s largest bank has rolled out a fixed-rate mortgage plan, charging lower interest for home loan borrowers ahead of the first relaxation in monetary policy this year, expected in mid-September. HSBC launched a mortgage plan fixed at 2.73 per cent per annum on Monday for either the first three or five years, according to…
Bank of East Asia (BEA), Hong Kong’s largest family-owned lender, beat expectations with 14 per cent growth in its first-half net profit, as a robust wealth-management business offset an increase in bad debt from commercial real estate. The bank recorded HK$2.41 billion (US$309 million) in net profit for the six months to June, or 86…
Beijing-based Zhongke WengAI, whose services are used by various Chinese ministries and state media outlets, will also jointly develop with Cherrypicks – owned by Hong Kong-listed NetDragon Websoft – enterprise AI solutions for industries such as finance and healthcare, the partners said in a statement on Friday. This collaboration “exemplifies the convergence of China’s AI…
In the second instalment of our two-part series on Hong Kong’s beleaguered property market, analysts explore why this slump is different from past downturns. The first instalment discussed how the resurgence of the city’s stock market as a venue for initial public offerings could boost office uptake and ease developers’ pain. Swiss bank UBS got…
In the second instalment of our two-part series on Hong Kong’s beleaguered property market, analysts explore why this slump is different from past downturns. The first instalment discussed how the resurgence of the city’s stock market as a venue for initial public offerings could boost office uptake and ease developers’ pain. Swiss bank UBS got…
More than half of Hong Kong residents do not plan to retire at the typical retirement age of 65, with many feeling that they cannot reach the average HK$5 million (US$637,000) savings target necessary for a comfortable post-work life, according to the T. Rowe Price Hong Kong Retirement Survey released on Thursday. About 52 per…
A Hong Kong court has formally frozen an HSBC account at the heart of a high-stakes lawsuit that pits three claimants of a multibillion-dollar inheritance against the CEO of Hangzhou Wahaha Group, a beverage empire dubbed “China’s Coca-Cola”. The order will remain in force until another parallel lawsuit filed in a Hangzhou court is finished,…
Wuxi AppTec, Asia’s largest provider of contract pharmaceutical research, has raised HK$7.70 billion (US$981 million) through a sale of additional shares in Hong Kong as it rides the wave of bullish appetite for Chinese biotechnology shares. The Shanghai-based company sold 73.8 million new shares to institutional investors at HK$104.27 each, a 6.9 per cent discount…