MANILA, Philippines — Batangas has emerged as the “preferred” location for Vingroup’s planned $500-million electric vehicle (EV) factory in the Philippines, which would mark the Vietnamese conglomerate’s entry into local automotive manufacturing. Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said Vingroup was actively scouting economic zones in Batangas for a manufacturing facility spanning at least 300 hectares, with the

MANILA, Philippines — UK digital bank Revolut remains in active talks with Philippine regulators as it seeks a license to enter the country’s digital banking market, potentially adding to competition in the fast-growing sector. Speaking to reporters last week, Lyn Javier, deputy governor at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), said Revolut remained interested in entering

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine aviation industry leaders are heading to the United States this week to explore advanced airport safety and security technologies, as the country seeks to modernize its aviation infrastructure amid growing passenger demand. In a statement, the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) said the Philippines would join Indonesia in a 15-member delegation

MANILA, Philippines — My competitors aren’t doing much about artificial intelligence (AI). We’re already ahead of them. Why should I hurry?” A family business owner said this when I raised the urgency of transforming his company around AI. Think of a US logistics business, well positioned in its market, but operating on very tight margins. My

MANILA, Philippines — Before the 24th Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) International CEO Conference was held, its chair Alma Jimenez wrote in this space that our greatest strategic risk may lie less in missing signals than in reading them through outdated assumptions. On Sept. 8, at Shangri-La The Fort, the Conference took up that challenge

Hong Kong’s insurance watchdog is tightening oversight of the city’s booming premium financing market, as the once-niche lending arrangement spreads to lower-tier insurance buyers, while also reviewing regulations, particularly on how insurers evaluate clients’ affordability, according to Insurance Authority executives. Premium financing allows policyholders to borrow money from financial institutions to pay upfront premiums on large life insurance policies, which are commonly used as a wealth...

Goldman Sachs is accelerating the hiring of wealth management advisers across Asia as the region’s wealthy families increasingly seek to diversify into US assets after years of strong market gains, while the AI boom is creating a new generation of millionaires with growing financial planning needs. The Wall Street bank is expanding its advisory teams in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, alongside specialists in areas such as trading and lending, according to Nishi Somaiya, its global co-head...

ASEAN+3 is at the forefront of regional payment connectivity, leveraging advancements in retail payment systems. Notable achievements include cross-border QR payments and instant payment system linkages

After HSBC RedCoin launched on Friday, Anchorpoint – the stablecoin-issuing joint venture led by Standard Chartered – said it plans to launch a retail product on a public blockchain, even as it takes a “prudent approach”. “Our next major milestone is to [help] bring regulated digital money into everyday payments and commercial applications, while connecting traditional payment infrastructure with this emerging digital finance,” said Dominic Maffei, CEO of Anchorpoint. “This is a public...

Thailand has launched a nationwide crackdown on foreigners using Thai nominees to hold land, with investigators ordered to complete case-by-case findings by December.

MANILA, Philippines — Consumer group CitizenWatch Philippines called on businesses and government agencies to enhance protections against online scams, highlighting that digital trust is essential for customer confidence and participation in the digital economy. “Digital trust is not only a cybersecurity concern; it is a business asset,” said Atty. Kit Belmonte, former legislator and CitizenWatch

DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. expressed support for hog raisers" calls for higher pork import tariffs, noting the DA"s efforts to ease losses due to cheaper imports.

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] HONG KONG, October 26, 2026 — The Globevisa Global Citizen Conference 2026 (GGCC 2026), organised by Globevisa Group, will open today at the JW Marriott Hong Kong, bringing together government representatives, industry leaders, family offices and professional advisers from more than 40 countries. Held under the theme “By Asia. For Asia. To the World,” the two-day conference will examine developments in global mobility,...

The Department of Agriculture (DA) welcomed the US$34.1-million grant from the United States to develop the Philippines" ube industry

China’s BYD will build new factories in Europe for a bigger market share, as the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker faces fiscal support pullback at home and rising trade barriers overseas, according to an executive. “Europe is a very important regional market for BYD. We will not let tariff increases affect local consumers’ choice of BYD,” said Liu Xueliang, vice-president at the Shenzhen-based carmaker, in a recent interview. Liu also reaffirmed that BYD was actively expanding its...

Sen. Erwin Tulfo on Sunday called for greater transparency in the collection of “bill deposits” from electricity consumers and urged power distribution utilities to allow customers to pay these charges in installments.

Hong Kong’s major property developers are shifting investment in mainland China from residential projects to commercial assets, including hospitality, as weak home sales and fewer attractive investment opportunities prompt them to focus on existing properties, recurring income and debt reduction. “In recent years, after we recycled the capital from our projects, we haven’t really found many good opportunities on the mainland,” Stephen Ng, chairman and managing director of Wharf Holdings, said at...

ASEAN's DEFA aims to streamline digital trade, data transfers, payments; progress depends on implementation; enhances regional electronic commerce.

TOKYO, Japan — There is nowhere else in the world with a larger community of nicotine aficionados who have shunned the traditional way of smoking than in Japan. Many of them are now using heating devices that replicate the sensory experience while eliminating the ash and smell of tobacco. And Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT Group)—the

MANILA, Philippines — A cup of joe is about to get much more expensive, and Filipino coffee lovers might need to spend more on their daily caffeine fix. Limited global supplies, shipment delays and low harvests are driving up coffee prices, with the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) saying price hikes could take effect in December

MANILA, Philippines — At a time when expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), data and technology is increasingly shaping where multinational companies choose to operate, global banking giant Citi sees the Philippines as a strategic hub for its worldwide business. While the firm serves clients in more than 180 countries and jurisdictions around the world, Citi has

Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) members can now request to be transferred to their preferred Yaman ng Kalusugan Program (Yakap) clinic during the fourth quarter of 2026.

A Chinese developer behind one of Sri Lanka’s biggest projects has reason to celebrate as a luxury property boom lifts sentiment in the South Asian nation and fuels optimism about the market’s prospects. Analysts, however, cautioned that a string of disappointing Chinese overseas property investments over the past decade underlined the risks of speculative excess that could lead to a boom-to-bust scenario, particularly in a country where regulation remained uneven. “Chinese developers, having...

Thailand’s slide down the global rankings in the Rule of Law Index poses a significant risk to the country’s economic ambitions, particularly its pursuit of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and its target to join the OECD by 2028.

Pork prices have dipped in some Metro Manila markets, narrowing the price gap with chicken as supermarkets and government agencies prepare for the holiday shopping season.

TOKYO -- On a table lined with cups at Tokyo Big Sight, the sprawling convention center on the waterfront of Tokyo Bay, Philippine coffee was being asked to do something it rarely gets the chance to do in Japan: introduce itself.

HSBC, the biggest lender in Hong Kong and Europe, will open a new wealth management centre in Abu Dhabi in December, as the lender has not found the conflicts in the Middle East have dampened demand for its wealth business in the region, according to a senior executive. Mohamed Al Marzooqi, CEO of HSBC in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said the new project formed part of the lender’s largest investment in the Middle East in two decades, after the opening of a wealth management centre in Dubai...

Written by Ruben “John” Basa, Program Director of Sustainable Health Care at Unilab Foundation Universal health care will depend heavily on how local leaders utilize the resources and responsibilities entrusted to them. Transforming health plans into funded priorities, connecting facilities, leveraging data to identify gaps, and ensuring public spending directly improves care are all vital

The Tourism Authority of Thailand leads 14 operators at ITB Asia 2026, promoting wellness and sustainable tourism to attract high-value travelers. TAT targets over 1.12 million arrivals from Singapore by year-end 2026. Key Points The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is leading 14 Thai tourism operators to ITB Asia 2026 in Singapore to expand international […]

A price hike for diesel and a rollback in gasoline prices may be expected next week, an industry source said Saturday.