Latest news with #AsianInvestmentConference
Bloomberg
30-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
UBS' MacLeod on Trade, Investor Sentiment
Niall MacLeod, Head of APAC Product Management at UBS, discusses the key highlights of the 'UBS Asian Investment Conference', and investor sentiment from clients. He speaks with David Ingles in Hong Kong. (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UBS APAC President Khan on Strategy, Rates & Volatility
Wealthy clients of UBS are looking to buy more alternative assets as they seek to diversify investments during a volatile period. From the sidelines of the 28th 'Asian Investment Conference', UBS Asia Pacific President & Co-President Global Wealth Management Iqbal Khan also said that that he expects volatility to continue and rates to come down. Khan speaks exclusively to Bloomberg's David Ingles in Hong Kong.
The Star
24-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong to feature Simone Biles and Maria Konnikova
Maria Konnikova, a renowned author, psychologist and poker player, will discuss uncertainty at next week's Asian Investment Conference (AIC) in Hong Kong, a topic that is certain to be at the front of mind for attendees of the event, hosted by UBS. She will be among the dozens of policymakers, economists, and robotics scientists to speak at the AIC, which was launched 28 years ago by Credit Suisse, now part of UBS. Niall Macleod, the curator of the event and UBS' head of product management for the Asia-Pacific region, said the conference would open with discussions on economics, trade and political issues, before moving into strategies for managing uncertainty. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. 'What are the tools you can utilise to try and handle the things you can't see, the things you can't necessarily predict?' he said. The political and economic uncertainties are far greater than normal, he said. 'It's providing a real challenge to investors,' he added. In early April, US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on all its trading partners, with China facing the heaviest duties. Global markets tumbled on the news and China applied its own tariffs on US imports. Last week, China and the US agreed to a 90-day truce on tariffs. China said it would lower duties on US imports to 10 per cent from 125 per cent, while the US would cut its tariffs to 30 per cent from 145 per cent. Macleod said when he started planning the event six months ago, he was unsure whether tariffs and trade would still be relevant. 'Six months on, it is one of the key debates,' he said. The AIC was expected to welcome more than 3,500 participants – including institutional investors, companies, ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family offices – up from over 3,000 last year, UBS said. The programme also includes a session focused on wealth management in Singapore ahead of the main conference, which runs from May 27 to 30 in Hong Kong. About 80 speakers – including Pascal Lamy, the former head of the World Trade Organization; Raghuram Rajan, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India; and Olivier Blanchard, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund – will address topics ranging from economics and geopolitics to artificial intelligence. Simone Biles, the famous American gymnast, will also speak at the event, on the topic of resilience. 'When you think about the hours and hours and hours she's put in to become this iconic, successful gymnast, she certainly inspires me,' Macleod said. 'When you look at the uncertainties in the economy and how you deal with uncertainty, a lot of it is about being resilient,' he said. For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2025.
Business Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
‘Increasingly difficult and challenging' to partner both US and China: DPM Gan Kim Yong
[SINGAPORE] It is getting increasingly difficult and challenging to work with both the US and China amid rising uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong. Finding ways to do business that will be comfortable for both sides is a key issue that Singapore will have to navigate, said Gan, who is also minister for trade and industry. 'It's not just the US and China – we want to do business with everybody else where it makes sense, and where we can achieve a new outcome,' said Gan at the inaugural wealth edition of UBS' Asian Investment Conference held in Singapore on Thursday (May 22). His keynote address on Singapore's strategy in a turbulent world was moderated by Young Jin Yee, Singapore country head at UBS and co-head of UBS Asia-Pacific. Responding to Young's question on Singapore's stance on staying neutral amid geopolitical tensions, Gan said Singapore 'has never been neutral' and has always taken a position. 'The only difference is that we take a position not because you are the US or because you are China; we take a position based on principles and always based on the interests of Singapore,' he said. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up This may upset different parties in different instances, but Gan said this allows Singapore to remain a trusted and reliable partner to do business with in the long term. 'If you try to be neutral and walk the middle road, the road is getting narrower and narrower. Eventually it will be a knife edge and you won't be able to stand up,' he said. Gan expects the tariff crisis will change the world order, unlike the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was largely business as usual. This change is not new, however. In the early days of the World Trade Organization, members had a shared vision to work together and create opportunities for everyone, but as time passed, there was increasing focus on domestic needs. '(US President Donald Trump's) 'Liberation Day' was a very decisive moment in which we realised that the world has changed fundamentally,' Gan said. This is why the government set up the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce – which Gan is chairing – to help businesses and workers navigate uncertainties from US tariffs, he said. He noted three main objectives of the task force: to make sense of developments and get feedback from businesses; to find ways to respond to the immediate impact; and to position Singapore such that it can seize opportunities post-crisis. 'This is a longer-term plan that will require a lot of work, and we are starting now. We are not waiting for the whole crisis to be over to start,' he said. For the next 10 years, Gan said manufacturing as a sector will remain key in Singapore's economic growth, although he noted the need to be 'quite selective' given limited resources. This means a focus on products that are dependent on the global market, such as semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, equipment machinery (and) systems, and aerospace. For services, growth areas include wealth management, financial services, professional services and trading. The government will also continue to invest in innovation as it will be key to drive economic development. But Gan noted that the key to success is for Singapore to remain nimble and not be fixated on a specific direction. 'Once you know that the direction is wrong, you have to be bold enough to make changes and shift your direction when necessary, and do so as quickly as possible,' Gan said. 'This nimbleness will ensure that Singapore will continue to succeed in this ever-changing world.'
