21/12/2017 Asia Business Report

Scotland Yard has announced

it is reviewing dozens of other

cases which are about

to go to court.

Stay with us, more to come, but

first, a here is Rico Hizon and Asia

Business Report. The worst passes

its biggest overhaul the tax code in

three decades. It a victory for

Trump, but what does that mean the

Asian? -- it is. And we hit the road

to the future and find out which

companies are leading the driverless

car race.

Good morning, Asia.

Hello, world.

Is a Thursday, glad you could join

us for another edition of Asia

Business Report. I am Rico Hizon. It

is four days before Christmas. We

start off with the US and is

President Trump has filled his first

major legislative win as lawmakers

passed sweeping overhaul to the tax

code. It is the biggest change in

more than three decades, he sent out

his reaction to the news with this

festive animated tweet.

Republicans say it is a win for

corporations and will boost growth,

while Democrats, who oppose the

plan, said it will blow out the

national deficit. What will this new

tax on all been naughty or nice for

Asia? And economists said it could

have a major impact on the region if

US firms close up shop and move jobs

back home.

Obviously, being positive

for Asia is the boost to growth in

the US, which will obviously relate

to increased demand in Asia for

exports, so that is the big

positive. But yes, the corporate tax

rate has gone down dramatically in

the US and overtime, if those

countries do not get their tax rates

down as well and are above the US,

we may see some corporate to

relocate back to the US.

But you

already have competitive tax rates,

particularly in Singapore, Malaysia,

Hong Kong, some major Asian hubs.

Will this US tax plan pressure on

Asian central banks to raise tax

rates?

I don't think so, I would not

be particularly concerned about

that. I think progress is going to

be very gradual, yes, it will

increase the pressure on the US to

raise interest rates. Obviously,

that means the Hong Kong authorities

will have to follow suit, it is not

particularly clear which way that

will go. I think if anything,

interest rate will remain up but not

dramatically more so than would have

been the case without this.

Shane

Oliver in Sydney. About suffering a

major blow at the hands of the

European Union's top court. The

decision being closely watched

around the world, it has ruled

Silicon Valley start-up is an

ordinary transportation company and

should be regulated as such. For

more on this issue, I'm joined now

by my colleague and fellow business

reporter.

Ever is actually

downplaying the ruling, saying it is

not going to make much of a

difference to their current

operations, given they already

comply with local transport

regulations. At this case was first

brought by Barcelona, the taxi

drivers's Association there was

complaining that it works was

putting on fair competition and that

unlicensed drivers were allowed to

basically take on these jobs that

Uber and not pay taxes, compared to

them. The ruling may influence

something else, and that is the big

economy, this is something that was

really brought about by technology

firms like Uber, Airbnb, they hire

workers on short-term contracts,

so-called gigs and so, it may

actually set a precedent for how

regulators look at these companies

going forward. Experts who say that

so far, regulators all over the

world have been slow to update laws

to cope with digital disrupters,

with innovation and other online

platforms that have come onto the

market.

The new Uber CEO has already

many problems, another one has been

put on his plate.

Absolutely, he

inherited a troubled company that

has several scandals, that forced

its previous CEO, Travis Kalanick,

to step down. I cannot remember his

last name, but he is now travelling

around Europe.

It is a bit of a

tongue twister, his last name.

He is

now travelling around Europe. The

new grey is from Orbit, and other

travel sites, and together they will

try to turn around. -- the new Chief

financial officer.

Another

challenging year for Uber, thank you

so much my colleague and fellow

business reporter. Switching gears

now to interview special, and today

we are taking a look at driverless

cars. As companies all over the

world are delivering autonomous

vehicles, just how far are we from

blowing away those khakis for good?

-- throwing away those car keys for

good?

I am going to try one next year, if

it is on the streets of Singapore.

Recently, Dubai has impressed the

world by adopting flying drone

taxis, and it has brought the city a

lot of publicity as it tries to

brand itself as a global technology

hub. At what are all of these

gadgets for?

-- but.

There is a lot of opportunities for

start-ups to start their business

here and grow, and technology will

be at the forefront because of the

drive of the government to be ten

times faster than what is happening

now.

For us, it was a great launching

platform from Dubai to the world,

and we are developing this

technology not just for you by and

the region, but for the world.

-- Dubai.

It is the holiday season, it is the

perfect time for curling up on the

sofa and binge watching some of your

favourite programmes. According to

Netflix, he was consumed 140 million

hours of programming per day for a

whopping 1 billion hours per week

over the past year. -- or a. The

most binge watched show, or as you

call it the most watched programme

over two hours at a time, was

American Vandal in the US, whereas

here in Singapore, it was a Korean

drama which had viewers's boat.

Earlier, I spoke with Jessica Lee of

Netflix and a ask her if she is

concerned about the company's

future.

I think there are a few

things to remember. There are things

that are still going to be on our

library for a few years, and at the

end of the day, we are delighted

that people are continuing to look

at more streaming platforms, as a

platform that you need to be on,

because more people that stream and

use video on demand, it is better

for us because that habit is

growing, and that is the reason can

she getting to the high number of

hours that we have. And really,

people love streaming because it is

about being in control, watching

when you want to watch.

With Amazon

coming in and Hulu, that will

basically cut your marketshare.

I

think that he used to watch TV, you

had Channel Five, BBC and

everything, now you have different

streaming platforms. At the end of

the day, it is good that we are

different streaming channels, good

for the consumer.

Let's have a look

now at the regional market,

currently lacklustre, mostly in

negative territory. Investors are

taking profits after the US fell

into negative territory. Overnight,

and at the holiday season, the Dow

Jones lower by eight on the NASDAQ

giving back about three points.

Thank you so much for investing your

time with us. Have a wonderful

Christmas,