29/08/2016 Asia Business Report


29/08/2016

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Well Asian markets follow Wall Street's lead? We are watching how

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regional investors react to the upbeat investment forecast of the US

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economy. And how this Indian film about a two boot subject managed to

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get funding. -- to do. Welcome to Asia Business Report.

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Let's start with the markets, and a look at where Asian markets have

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started trade, especially in Japan. As you can see, it is up 2%.

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Australia fairly flat, and we will be watching the Hang Seng in Hong

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Kong in about an hour. All of them are taking stock of the Federal

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Reserve chair Janet Yellen's signals that the case for an interest rate

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rise has strengthened and she gave an upbeat assessment of the US

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economy at Jackson hole on Friday. She gave no clarity on when the hike

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would,, sparking volatility in US in European stock markets -- Jackson

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Hall. How this influence trading sentiment and strategies in terms of

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investment? The chief economist at the bank of Singapore gives me his

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view. It is a double edged sword and everyone is happy the US economy is

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doing well and creating jobs, but the markets have been driven by

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cheap money, borrowing for pretty much nothing. That money has flowed

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into bond markets and driven markets to relatively expensive levels.

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Markets will be nervous at any signs that that cheap money era is going

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to start to disappear. We know it is not just the Fed, we also had the

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Japanese central bank and central banks from Europe at Jackson Hall

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over the weekend. We know these are countries with negative interest

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rates. Are there expectations for more? In Japan, they have a meeting

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around the same time as the Fed at the end of the month, and the

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governor was saying there is ample room to be easing policy. They

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already have negative rates and huge market, but they can do more. The

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expectation in Europe and definitely in Japan is we will see more action,

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even as the Fed is tightening. We know there is a fairly uncertain

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global outlook, you make the case as well as the Fed that the US economy

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is strengthening. But the uncertain global outlook but on by unexpected

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events like Brexit, and the upcoming US elections, where will that put

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the cheap victory for US interest rates? It tells you they will be

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very slow and careful in raising rates. They have been raped hikes --

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rate hikes, and whether we do raise them or not, it will be a gradual

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process, back to normal. They used to say normal is to% and now maybe

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it is as low as 2%. -- normal is as low as 3%. It does seem like a

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normal detector. In other business news, Taiwan is sending in

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investigators to Panama and New York to inspect the banking branches of

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the state-run investment business mega financial. Taiwanese regulators

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have reportedly summoned the former mega financial chairman for

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questioning earlier this month, with the bank being fined millions of

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dollars by a New York state regular writer for violating anti- money

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laundering regulations. China's second largest oil refinery has been

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hit hard by lower oil and gas prices. Net profit for the first six

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months are at their lowest in eight years. They fell to $3 billion. That

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is down nearly 22% compared to a year ago. And Japan and South Korea

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have agreed to start talks on resuming a currency swap deal was

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that the North Asian neighbours began its agreement 15 years ago but

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it stalled after expiring early last year because of tensions between the

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two sides. The deal lets one nation secure dollars by giving its

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currency to the other, which acts as a cushion during times of market

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instability. Navigating the world of personal finance can be a daunting

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task, but one start-up is looking to signify the process in Asia. Much

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like searching for a flight online. The boss of the company, they have

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launched other businesses before, and we caught up with him and asked

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what got him onto the path of being a serial entrepreneur? I have always

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wanted to be my own boss, and I started a small business in selling

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peanuts in Germany, and then a few years later, I worked at a company

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that was kind of a middleman between the airline and the travel agent

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unity. I worked for a few years and thought, there is such a huge demand

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-- community. People will fly more and more. The way we organise it

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here can be done better. We need to use technology. Then I moved into

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the online travel industry and saw what was happening in the US, where

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it technology -- a technology company at the time set up the first

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online travel agent, and I thought, wow, I need to do that as well. Then

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with a business partner I started to build the first online travel agency

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in the Netherlands, and it is still the biggest travel agent, online

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travel agent, in the Netherlands. What inspired you to start GoBear? I

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wanted to buy car insurance, but before you buy, you want to compare

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products. There was no comparison website for insurance and banking

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products here. So that got me on the idea, let's start a new business

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online and bring it to customers what is already happening in other

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industries, to the Asian customer. What are some of the challenges you

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face in setting this up and expanding become any? It is a news

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business, there are always challenges. It is never easy.

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Finding the right online talent is a big challenge. In all markets,

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actually. And then making customers aware of the great service that is

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out there for them, that is a challenge. And in some countries,

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there are some regulatory obstacles, I would say, because laws have not

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caught up with modern times. They don't have anything for Internet

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companies. They are all all working on it, but the law has not caught up

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yet. Finally, how did you come up with the name GoBear and that cute

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icon you use? Of course you want a name that is short, memorable,

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likeable, powerful, and we found that in GoBear. A new Indian

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miniseries was released online over the weekend about two women who fall

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in love. This in a country where gay sex is illegal, and same-sex

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relationships are really portrayed in film. It is a subject hard to

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make into a commercial success. We have more from Mumbai.

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This is a story that almost never got made. The producers were not

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sure how Indian audiences would react to a lesbian love story. The

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initial response was very shocking for me, because the moment I said to

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girls in Love, he is scared. He is scared he could be attacked. Finally

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he agreed to produce, but they decided against it, but he was doing

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it without his parents knowing. They found out and they are not OK with

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that. This world, these will stomach she finally pitched the film on a

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crowd funding website, went to got the money she needed, she has only

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been able to self publish short episodes on YouTube, meaning it is

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unlikely to make that money back. The first time a same-sex

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relationship was portrayed in mainstream Indian cinema in 1998,

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there were violent protests by right-wing groups. It did lead to

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public debate on homosexuality and free speech, but 18 years later, the

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subject is still taboo. Earlier this year, a film that dealt with

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homophobia was released, but only online. After struggling to find

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producers and distributed. After a positive response from viewers, a

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sickle 's plan. There is a villain in the story. And this website has

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been set up for people to publish stories about relationships and love

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and says that produces and advertisers need to realise there is

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a market. It is not something that has been incorporated into

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mainstream media storytelling for some time now. There is a hesitation

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about what the market is for it. Money comes more with a sense of

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what is the market, and people with money tend to be conservative about

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form, and only want to back that which is already known or has

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ensured profits. Despite gay sex being illegal in India, the LGBT

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immunity is trying to be vocal and visible, and changing technology is

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creating new ways for them to tell their stories, but only changing

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attitudes will make those stories financially viable as well.

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Let's take a look at the markets. We are seeing a strong gain for the

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Nikkei over in Japan. It is really due to the weakness in the Japanese

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yen, which is propelling exporters higher. So the US dollar strength in

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on those comments from Janet Yellen we told you about at the start of

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the programme. That is it for the show. Thank you for watching.

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The last BHS stores have closed for the final time,

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bringing to an end nearly 90 years of trading by the retailer

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The previous owners, Dominic Chappell

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and Sir Philip Green, have been criticised by MPs

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