:00:00. > :00:00.footage. Our top story: The UK: The Scottish Parliament has voted in
:00:00. > :00:09.favour of making a formal request to the UK government of making a
:00:10. > :00:12.independence referendum. -- our top story in the UK:
:00:13. > :00:19.Britain formally begins the process to exit the European Union, what
:00:20. > :00:25.should Asian companies be looking for? Are we set to the higher oil
:00:26. > :00:35.prices? We will hear from the international energy agency.
:00:36. > :00:43.Hello. Later today Prime Minister Theresa May will be triggering
:00:44. > :00:50.Article 50 and that will officially start the process of Brexit.
:00:51. > :00:54.Japanese businesses were some of the most vocal against Brexit ahead of
:00:55. > :00:59.the referendum last year. Their comments are not surprising
:01:00. > :01:06.considering Japan is the biggest Asian investor in the UK. And its
:01:07. > :01:12.companies account for about 140,000 permanent jobs. Carmakers such as
:01:13. > :01:20.Nissan, Toyota and Honda are major employers. Their factories make
:01:21. > :01:26.almost half of the 1.7 million cars built in Britain in 2016. Earlier I
:01:27. > :01:29.spoke to Simon Black, a lawyer who advises Japanese businesses, I asked
:01:30. > :01:33.him which companies face the biggest challenges. The car companies in
:01:34. > :01:39.particular will be looking at three key areas on how the negotiations
:01:40. > :01:46.play out. Firstly it's how the tariffs, if they are reimposed, they
:01:47. > :01:50.could be up to 10%, a major issue in exporting in the major competitive
:01:51. > :02:00.market in car manufacturing. And customs, if there are delays at the
:02:01. > :02:03.border, that could be damaging for the companies. The third area they
:02:04. > :02:06.will look at is can Britain attract a car parts supply chain into
:02:07. > :02:09.Britain and create more companies that supply the parts for car
:02:10. > :02:13.manufacturers. That's important if there are going to be tariffs on
:02:14. > :02:18.cross-border trade. Simon, apart from the automotive sector in Japan,
:02:19. > :02:22.you have the financial institutions most worried about financial
:02:23. > :02:26.passporting. You're right, the banks have perhaps the next biggest
:02:27. > :02:31.headache after the car companies. Financial passporting, that need you
:02:32. > :02:35.to have a subsidiary company in the EU. Most of the Japanese banks at
:02:36. > :02:40.the moment don't actually have that. So there's a race to establish
:02:41. > :02:44.subsidiaries somewhere in the EU companies... In the EU countries,
:02:45. > :02:48.and then the big question is actually what do they have to do
:02:49. > :02:52.with those subsidiaries and how much of their London business, their main
:02:53. > :02:55.centre, can they actually keep. And that's really down to what
:02:56. > :03:00.activities they can continue to do in London and what activities they
:03:01. > :03:05.have to move to the continent. These are two major industries, so broadly
:03:06. > :03:09.speaking, Simon, what are the upsides of Brexit for Asian
:03:10. > :03:14.companies? It's interesting, the Japanese investment in the UK has
:03:15. > :03:19.actually dramatically increased since Brexit. I think that shows
:03:20. > :03:23.there are good businesses that companies can acquire, but also
:03:24. > :03:28.we've had the effect of the currency that is devalued by about 15%. While
:03:29. > :03:32.there are quite a lot of challenges, there are significant upsides for
:03:33. > :03:36.Asian companies, Japanese and elsewhere, investing in the UK at
:03:37. > :03:39.the moment. And the government will be trying to promote that in
:03:40. > :03:44.everywhere it possible. Brexit will have a major impact elsewhere. You
:03:45. > :03:48.have London, that's been the financial hub for many American
:03:49. > :03:52.banks, but Britain seems to be heading for a clean break with the
:03:53. > :03:56.well's largest training block, which would leave the UK without a trade
:03:57. > :04:00.arrangement to maintain access or the financial services industry.
:04:01. > :04:05.What does this mean for American financial institutions that operate
:04:06. > :04:12.in London? Samira Hussain reports from New York. The UK is about 3000
:04:13. > :04:16.miles that way, and some of America's biggest banks are less
:04:17. > :04:22.than a mile over that weight. So how has the decision to trigger Article
:04:23. > :04:29.50, something happening way over there, having an impact way over
:04:30. > :04:33.their -- that way. This is a decision based on hassles, because
:04:34. > :04:38.they are expensive. The banks aren't saying much, but some, like Goldman
:04:39. > :04:41.Sachs behind me, have indicated jobs will be leaving London. The number
:04:42. > :04:45.of people leaving London are probably going to be measured in the
:04:46. > :04:49.low tens of thousands, and that's in a city with millions and millions of
:04:50. > :04:53.people, many of them already employed in the finance sector.
:04:54. > :05:02.There's a lot of noise being driven by the finance sector and the
:05:03. > :05:06.lobbying groups trying again to bend rolls to their advantage, but the
:05:07. > :05:10.reality is this is not as nearly a big threat as they make it sound
:05:11. > :05:12.like. That takes care of the short-term but what about the
:05:13. > :05:17.long-term -- rules. Brexit doesn't necessarily tricks it a big exit of
:05:18. > :05:22.employees from London but it may cause banks to look at where they
:05:23. > :05:26.have their business in the future. The big question is, in a
:05:27. > :05:31.post-Brexit Iraq, will London remain a global financial centre? That will
:05:32. > :05:36.ultimately determine whether or not the American banks stay put --
:05:37. > :05:42.post-Brexit Iraq. Samira Hussain from New York. The US government has
:05:43. > :05:48.launched an anti-dumping investigation against imports of
:05:49. > :05:52.Chinese aluminium foil. -- post-Brexit Iraq. It's a series of
:05:53. > :05:55.cases that could result in the imposition of punitive duties. US
:05:56. > :06:00.companies filed a report earlier this month saying Chinese imports
:06:01. > :06:07.are dumped into the market at prices lower than the cost of production.
:06:08. > :06:12.Chinese technology giant TENSENT is best known for its messaging app,
:06:13. > :06:20.now it is investing in electric cars. The company has bought a 5%
:06:21. > :06:24.stake in Tesla. It comes as Tesla prepares to launch a mass-market
:06:25. > :06:31.model three. Some analysts believe TENSENT could help test the cell or
:06:32. > :06:35.even build cars in China. Uber's first report on employee diversity
:06:36. > :06:39.shows low numbers for women, especially in technical positions.
:06:40. > :06:44.The report comes as pressure increases on the company in light of
:06:45. > :06:47.sexual harassment claims by a former employee, the antics of its
:06:48. > :06:55.embattled Chief Executive, and ongoing criticisms of a sexist
:06:56. > :07:01.culture. Energy giant Exxon Mobil has asked President Donald Trump not
:07:02. > :07:04.to scrap US participation in the landmark Paris climate agreement,
:07:05. > :07:08.running counter to White House moves on carbon emissions. The news comes
:07:09. > :07:14.as the president unveiled a new executive order that could roll back
:07:15. > :07:17.some of the previous Democratic administration policies aimed at
:07:18. > :07:22.curbing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
:07:23. > :07:29.Well, the wells is set to face an oil shortage and higher prices if
:07:30. > :07:33.consumption rates aren't kept up -- the world. That is due to an
:07:34. > :07:38.international agency forecast. I spoke to the director of energy
:07:39. > :07:46.markets and security at the IEA and he said Asia is driving much of the
:07:47. > :07:49.demand. Asia, including China, India, and the ASEAN countries, they
:07:50. > :07:53.will be the global leader in demand for growth and we almost China was
:07:54. > :07:59.the dominant leader in the global demand growth, but in our forecast
:08:00. > :08:04.India will be the leader, especially in the second half of this
:08:05. > :08:10.projection period. Why will India be leading in the oil demand area going
:08:11. > :08:16.forward? Because of their population growth and in terms, for instance,
:08:17. > :08:23.in terms of the vehicle per catheter ownership. The Indian level is very
:08:24. > :08:29.low. -- capita. So the rate of increase in India will be very
:08:30. > :08:33.rapid. While in the case of China, they have achieved a certain level
:08:34. > :08:38.of car ownership. Of course they will continue to grow. So we expect
:08:39. > :08:43.the growth in India will be larger, especially in the second half of the
:08:44. > :08:47.projection period. With this increased demand from India and
:08:48. > :08:56.China, two of the largest countries in the world, will this mean that we
:08:57. > :09:01.will continue to import oil from the Middle East, or will we look for
:09:02. > :09:09.other sources of oil? Yes, that's a very good question. You pointed out
:09:10. > :09:14.that growth in demand in Asia, but also at the same time supply from
:09:15. > :09:18.Asia will decline substantially in the coming five or six years. That
:09:19. > :09:26.means the import requirement for Asia will grow quite robust league.
:09:27. > :09:31.And even if all of the Middle East and exports come to Asia, that's not
:09:32. > :09:37.enough to fill the gap and therefore Asia will need to import from other
:09:38. > :09:41.parts of the world, Central Asia, Latin America or Africa. Will this
:09:42. > :09:51.mean higher prices for oil as China and India continue to expand with
:09:52. > :09:55.their demand and their -- then import less from the Middle East?
:09:56. > :10:00.That's what we've been warning to the world. Of course it depends on
:10:01. > :10:04.the level of investment. If investment picks up rapidly then it
:10:05. > :10:11.may be able to take care of the demand growth in the 2020s. A quick
:10:12. > :10:16.look now at the markets and as you can see, Asia continues to rebound
:10:17. > :10:21.for a second day in early trading after Wall Street stocks scored some
:10:22. > :10:24.solid gains overnight. Japan and Australia are in positive territory.
:10:25. > :10:28.Thank you so much for investing your time with us on Asia Business
:10:29. > :10:37.Report. I'm Rico Hizon, Sport Today is coming up next.
:10:38. > :10:43.You're watching BBC News. I'm Babita Sharma. The headlines this hour:
:10:44. > :10:45.Australian officials are beginning