Quoteworthy: "Tesla has far more demand than production, therefore we will only sell cars to Hertz for the same margin as to consumers." — Tesla boss Elon Musk, referring to the purported deal to sell 100,000 cars to the rental firm.
IMF chief says more vaccinations can help tame inflation
International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva said vaccinating the world will help ensure that higher inflation proves temporary, and expressed concern that the growth gap between advanced and emerging economies could spur social unrest.
To push inflation back down, Georgieva urged a “focus on reducing this divergence: vaccinate the world, vaccinate the world so we can see production everywhere stepping up”.
“If the divergence continues, we are going to see more unrest,” Georgieva said in an interview Tuesday with Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua from the COP26 conference in Glasgow, reiterating widespread vaccinations against Covid-19 as a solution.
Supply-chain disruptions are likely to extend into mid-2022 or beyond, which is putting upward pressure on prices, and central banks are already starting to take action against inflation, Georgieva said.
Separately, Georgieva faces employee discontent at the IMF following allegations that she improperly influenced data in China’s favour while at the World Bank in 2017 — a scandal that forced her to fight to keep her job last month — and a Bloomberg News report that she and other top managers softened language on climate change in a Brazil report.
Asked if she worries about her credibility with IMF employees, Georgieva responded that “staff was and continues to be concerned”.
“That is not a minor issue, whether we have full integrity of the work we do,” she said. “Fortunately in the fund, yes, we have respect for the quality of our report. I have engaged with the staff, we had two town hall meetings. I have answered many questions people have on their mind, and of course, I will continue to do so.” — Bloomberg
China’s economy faces new downward pressure, Premier Li says
China’s economy faces new downward pressures and has to cut taxes and fees to address the problems faced by small and medium-sized companies, according to the country’s Premier Li Keqiang.
Li did not specify the extent of the new “downward pressure” or its cause but the phrase is generally used by Chinese officials to refer to a slowing economy. He has used the phrase before, including several times in 2019.
The economy needs “cross-cyclical adjustments” to continue in a proper range, Li said during a visit to China’s top market regulator, state broadcaster CCTV reported. That phrase is associated with a more conservative fiscal and monetary approach that focuses more on the long-term outlook instead of immediate economic performance.
China’s economy has been slowing in recent months due to Beijing’s push to slow growth in the real-estate sector. Li’s remarks came after further signs of weakness in October due to power shortages that weighed on manufacturing and strict coronavirus controls which put a brake on holiday spending.
“There are no obvious growth drivers now, so the government is looking for one,” said Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategy research at China Renaissance Securities Hong Kong. “Small businesses’ investment can provide a source of healthier, longerterm growth, compared with government or property investment.”
Authorities will encourage banks to lend more to small businesses, further reduce taxes and fees for them, and look to simplify administrative procedures to encourage more entrepreneurs, Pang said.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 49.2, the National Bureau of Statistics said Sunday, the second month it was below the key 50-mark that signals a contraction in production.
Several investment banks have lowered their forecasts for China’s 2021 growth to below 8% in recent weeks. However, former Chinese central bank adviser Huang Yiping told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that while China’s economy will slow further over the next few months, annual growth of around 8% is achievable.
Li called for the creation of a better business environment through equal treatment of all types of companies and better market oversight, mentioning efforts to combat monopolies, unfair competition and hoarding.
A statement from China’s government urging local authorities to ensure there was adequate food supply during the winter and encouraging people to stock up on some essentials prompted concerned online talk on Tuesday, with the Ministry of Commerce later trying to calm concerns.— Bloomberg
Blockchain Association Singapore partners AntChain to drive blockchain adoption and innovation
Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS) has partnered with AntChain, the flagship technology brand of payments provider Ant Group, to promote and drive further blockchain adoption and innovation in Singapore.
They will co-organise events and programmes in Singapore and China to raise further awareness of blockchain, drive industry adoption and promote positive impact through continuous innovation.
The partnership also aims to strengthen the ecosystem of talents and empower the community through training and knowledge sharing.
The MOU with BAS is the first such industry partnership for AntChain outside China. Commenting on the partnership, Derrick Loi, general manager of International Business, Intelligent Technology at Ant Group, says: “We are committed to working closely with industry partners such as BAS to explore new synergies, resolve pain points faced by businesses, and uncover greater value for a broader group of customers in today’s digital economy.”
“We very much look forward to enabling trusts in use cases such as digital trade, thereby connecting B2B2C with industry-specific applications of enterprise blockchain, secure computing, IoT, eKYC, and other innovative technologies,” he adds.
Chia Hock Lai, co-chairman, BAS, says: “It is an absolute pleasure to collaborate closely with AntChain, which we believe will bring valuable technical know-how and industry experience to BAS’s members and partners in Singapore and the region. Together, more blockchain innovations can be fostered to contribute to the growth and transformation of businesses and industries.”
Besides collaborating with AntChain, BAS has also formed partnerships with the Alliance of Blockchain Industry (ABI) and the Energy Research Institute of the Nanyang Technological University to jointly promote blockchain application, research and talent development.
Biggest global agricultural commodity companies including Wilmar, Olam International commit to sustainability roadmap
Ten of the largest global agricultural trading and processing companies in the world including SGX-listed Wilmar International, Golden Agri-Resources and Olam International have issued a joint statement at the World Leaders’ Summit on Forests and Land Use at climate change conference COP26.
In the statement, the companies pledge to lay out a shared roadmap for enhanced supply chain action consistent with a 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway by COP27.
The other seven companies that signed the joint statement are ADM, Amaggi, Budnge, Cargill, JBS, Louis Dreyfus Company and Viterra. Together, the 10 companies have a combined annual revenue of almost US$500 billion ($675 billion) and a major global market share in key commodities including cattle, cocoa, palm oil and soy.
The companies state that progress must be accelerated and scaled up to support global efforts in reaching net-zero emissions globally by 2050, halting biodiversity loss, and providing sustainable livelihoods.
“So we intend to build on our shared efforts, working with governments, farmers, and other key stakeholders in our supply chains, to accelerate sector-wide action and to identify opportunities for public-private collaboration to catalyse further progress on eliminating commodity driven deforestation,” the statement reads.
The joint statement comes following a roundtable meeting in October convened by John Kerry, US special presidential envoy for climate, and Kwasi Kwarteng, UK secretary of state for the department of business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS), supported by the Tropical Forest Alliance and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Ongoing collaboration continuing to COP27 will be supported by these parties.
“Eliminating deforestation from global agricultural supply chains is critical to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This joint statement from leading agricultural trading companies is a terrific example of the power of markets to end deforestation and drive climate action,” says Kerry.
“With the UN COP26 summit in Glasgow underway, it’s fantastic to see some of the world’s largest agricultural trading companies working together to cut their emissions right across the supply chain, helping to ensure we keep the 1.5 degrees target in reach,” Kwarteng comments.— Atiqah Mokhtar
DBS to invest $300 mil to grow digital and intelligent banking capabilities
DBS Group announced on Nov 2 that it will invest $300 million next year to further bolster its digital and intelligent banking capabilities for its wealth and retail customers.
The sum, which represents a 14% y-o-y increase, will also go into enhancing hyper-personalised experiences across the bank’s digital and physical touchpoints.
In addition, the investment will go towards boosting the bank’s tech infrastructure and talent, embedding intelligent banking predictive technology in more financial solutions to better empower self-directed customers.
For a start, DBS says it will further entrench its intelligent banking predictive technology in its newly-launched client connect frontline advisery tool to empower financial advisers and relationship managers to better advise their customers.
It will also look into scaling the use of intelligent banking across other key DBS markets and extend it to the bank’s PayLah! app.
For instance, PayLah! users can look forward to personalised alerts, reminders and analyses that are customised according to their app and card transactions.
Sim S Lim, group head of consumer banking and wealth management at DBS Bank, says, “Our role as bankers is to grow the wealth, enable the success, and in that process, enrich the lives of our customers. We believe our intelligent banking capabilities have enhanced our ability to fulfil this — be it by empowering our customers to manage their money better, or equipping our relationship managers with the intelligence and insights required to provide best-in-class advisery.”
“It’s still early days but we are confident in the value-add that intelligent banking can bring to the banking industry and we are in this for the long haul. We’re committed to supercharging ourselves to become an intelligent banking powerhouse that customises banking for every individual customer by delivering hyper-personalised journeys that pre-empt, support and address their unique needs,” Sim adds. — Felicia Tan
