:00:00. > :00:00.business Secretary, Vince Cable, has written to the country's100 biggest
:00:00. > :00:00.companies, calling on them to hold back on executive pay levels.
:00:00. > :00:07.Describing wages at banks as ridiculous he said the public had
:00:08. > :00:09.lost trust in the principle that remuneration was linked to
:00:10. > :00:16.performance. Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from
:00:17. > :00:19.Singapore. The politics of trade, will the US President succeed in
:00:20. > :00:21.breaking a deadlock with Japan over agricultural tariffs? Asia's
:00:22. > :00:32.contribution of house sales in the region will boost earnings prospects
:00:33. > :00:39.for Boeing. Thanks for watching Asia Business Report. President Obama
:00:40. > :00:42.kicks off his Asian tour in Japan where he is due to spend two days in
:00:43. > :00:45.Tokyo, although Japan they want to discuss regional security and
:00:46. > :00:59.China's rising hazards in the region. `` Japan may want. Obama is
:01:00. > :01:01.keen to talk about trade, and specifically, the transpacific
:01:02. > :01:04.partnership, the potential free trade agreement. Japan and the US
:01:05. > :01:08.have been in a deadlock over how much possession of the Asian economy
:01:09. > :01:14.should allow to be part of the group. Sticking points revolve
:01:15. > :01:17.around removing tariffs on agriculture products, that is rice,
:01:18. > :01:20.beef and dairy products. Earlier, I spoke to a chief economist in Tokyo.
:01:21. > :01:24.I asked him whether the two sides will be able to work out their
:01:25. > :01:27.differences during a visit. There are still details to nail down, but
:01:28. > :01:31.I don't think Barack Obama and Shinzo Abe will come out to the
:01:32. > :01:41.press conference and say that it is done. They will say that there are
:01:42. > :01:52.details. There are ongoing negotiations. It will take more
:01:53. > :01:56.time, but I am fairly confident that will come to an agreement before the
:01:57. > :01:58.end of the year. With the elimination of these tariffs, how
:01:59. > :02:08.much will this improve Japan's economic growth? Sure. So in a very
:02:09. > :02:14.conservative government estimate, they came out with the number of
:02:15. > :02:18.0.7% of GDP. That might sound small. But it is almost three trillion yen.
:02:19. > :02:31.When you include nontariff measures such as deregulation in the service
:02:32. > :02:40.sector, that number will double. This TPP model is loosely based on
:02:41. > :02:44.the growth of nations along the Pacific rim. Several members such as
:02:45. > :02:48.Singapore and Vietnam are also involved in the TPP negotiations. Is
:02:49. > :03:04.it running the risk of being insignificant? I spoke to the
:03:05. > :03:12.group's secretary. Will it replace APEC? I do think so. And we have the
:03:13. > :03:18.Latin Americans in the Pacific Alliance. We have to get those in
:03:19. > :03:25.the same direction. China is hosting APEC. One thing they need to do is
:03:26. > :03:31.work out how to bring them together. If this becomes a reality, how
:03:32. > :03:38.others APEC how to adjust? So far, TPP is following guidelines set out
:03:39. > :03:42.by APEC, just as most if not all of those agreements, first of all they
:03:43. > :03:47.have to get agreement among ministers. Then they need to get it
:03:48. > :03:51.all ratified. That can take a year. And they need to work out all the
:03:52. > :03:56.details. This will not be a quick process. But we want to see trade
:03:57. > :04:02.liberalisation going in one clear direction, making it easier for
:04:03. > :04:07.investment, easier to move across borders, all of these things have
:04:08. > :04:11.been pushed by APEC over the years. A lot of the practical stuff is
:04:12. > :04:17.still being done by APEC. Reducing red tape, getting things across
:04:18. > :04:22.borders more easily. Had On the earnings front, PFC parent, Yum!
:04:23. > :04:26.Brands says the rise in sales in China in the first three months of
:04:27. > :04:29.the year. As it recovers from an evening flew outbreak and a safety
:04:30. > :04:32.scare last year, which led to a fall in demand. It is the biggest market
:04:33. > :04:38.in the country, which also operates Pizza Hut. Net profit at China
:04:39. > :04:41.Mobile has fallen by nearly 10% in the first quarter, when compared to
:04:42. > :04:44.the previous year. That is the lowest quarterly profit in five
:04:45. > :04:47.years. The company is struggling to compete with mobile apps offering
:04:48. > :04:49.messaging services on the mainland such as Tencent's popular
:04:50. > :05:00.application, WeChat. China Mobile is the biggest carrier in the world by
:05:01. > :05:09.subscribers. The securities market regulator in Hong Kong has issued a
:05:10. > :05:12.fine to the Royal Bank of Scotland. A fine of $7.5 million has been
:05:13. > :05:15.issued to Royal Bank of Scotland, and the institution was reprimanded
:05:16. > :05:18.for failing to detect a series of unauthorised transactions by one of
:05:19. > :05:21.its traders. The fine follows the conviction of a former trader for
:05:22. > :05:24.fraud in 2013. She was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being
:05:25. > :05:28.caught falsifying records of emerging market trades. One US
:05:29. > :05:35.company that relies heavily on Asia is Boeing. China has placed an order
:05:36. > :05:40.for Boeing 737 aircraft. It is worth over $4 billion. Boeing is about to
:05:41. > :05:42.unveil its earnings from the March, the January to March quarter.
:05:43. > :05:47.Earlier this year, it warned investors that profits could fall
:05:48. > :05:57.short of expectations. Our correspondent reports. This is the
:05:58. > :06:00.aircraft that has been Boeing's best`selling plane ever. The 737 has
:06:01. > :06:03.dominated the plane market along with its rival, Airbus. The plane
:06:04. > :06:10.could play an even bigger role in shaping its future and this is why.
:06:11. > :06:13.With a surge in demand for air travel and fast`growing economies,
:06:14. > :06:17.Asia has emerged as the main engine of growth for plane makers. However,
:06:18. > :06:20.carriers in the region have been keen to buy fuel`efficient, aircraft
:06:21. > :06:36.suited to meet regional travel demand. And this is where Boeing 737
:06:37. > :06:38.has come into play. On Tuesday, China's Shandong airlines based in
:06:39. > :06:41.order worth 6.4 billion dollars. Boeing also won a similar size order
:06:42. > :06:53.from India for the aircraft earlier this year. However, the planemaker
:06:54. > :06:56.has also had to face tough times. Boeing's stronghold on the Japanese
:06:57. > :06:59.market where it enjoys a monopoly for decades was broken by rival
:07:00. > :07:02.Airbus late last year. That was a tribute to impart to the problems
:07:03. > :07:11.with its 787 Dreamliner planes of which Japanese carriers are the
:07:12. > :07:14.biggest operators. So while it has been making a smooth landing in some
:07:15. > :07:31.markets, it has faced turbulent times in others. How well it can
:07:32. > :07:42.manouevre the latter will play a key role in shaping its fortunes in the
:07:43. > :07:45.region. Roughly 40 or 50% of the monthly deliveries coming into the
:07:46. > :07:56.region, especially the narrow what it aircraft, increasingly, the
:07:57. > :08:06.Boeing 787. But hasn't its image been affected by its problems with
:08:07. > :08:10.the 787s? Those issues have largely been resolved. We haven't had any
:08:11. > :08:16.incidents in quite some time. So the market feels comfortable. The main
:08:17. > :08:23.issue now is that they are going into a new variant this year. They
:08:24. > :08:27.are also looking to develop another new variant. That can lead to issues
:08:28. > :08:37.in the production process. As you speed up production to meet demand
:08:38. > :08:40.and deliveries you have to make. With Asian travel on the rise, one
:08:41. > :08:45.of Singapore 's best`known company is focusing on buying up hotels to
:08:46. > :08:48.cater to them. The Royal Group Holdings is one by one of Singapore
:08:49. > :08:51.'s wealthiest families with over $1 billion and on the rich list, this
:08:52. > :09:05.man is the third generation of the family to run the country. `` run
:09:06. > :09:08.the firm in the country. Our group, we do not do much residential, we
:09:09. > :09:11.are predominately commercial, hospitality and retail. That is the
:09:12. > :09:17.legacy of the company. That market has been untouched and is still
:09:18. > :09:27.gunned lazing. `` guns blazing. Is correlated to its rivals and not to
:09:28. > :09:29.government measures. The government measures are helping Singapore
:09:30. > :09:36.fervour which is causing a further escalation in the hospitality war.
:09:37. > :09:47.Your family owns several hotels in the region, plans to develop more.
:09:48. > :09:51.Why the focus on hotels and tourism? The reason, I like the hotel sector
:09:52. > :09:55.right now is because of the growth of tourism is in Singapore. We have
:09:56. > :10:01.seen a growth in the past five years of close to 100%. It is not normal
:10:02. > :10:08.to see such growth in a particular sector. We have seen room rates grow
:10:09. > :10:17.a crazy percentage in the past few years. The luxury and upscale market
:10:18. > :10:26.was untouched. Going forward, that is why I look at that as a very
:10:27. > :10:30.lucrative industry. Looking at the markets, most Asian stocks are in
:10:31. > :10:33.positive territory. Most are reporting strong first quarter
:10:34. > :10:57.earnings. And give for investing your time with us. I am Rico Hizon.
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