BOCHK completes share buy of BOC Thailand
BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) says that with respect to the asset restructuring of the Bank of China Group (BOC Group) in the Asean region, the conditions in the Bank of China (Thai) share purchase agreement have been satisfied.
The share acquisition was completed on 9 January 2017 .Yue Yi, vice-chairman and chief executive of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings), said: “Following the acquisition of Bank of China (Malaysia) Berhad and the opening of a branch in Brunei, Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) is expanding its presence in Southeast Asia by acquiring BOC Thailand. It marks a new step forward in implementing BOC Group’s overseas development strategy and speeding up BOCHK’s transformation into a regional bank.
“Leveraging BOCHK’s well-developed financial product platform, professional expertise and resources, we will adopt a regional management approach in fostering collaboration among the institutions in Southeast Asia and enhancing BOC Group’s overall business strength and market competitiveness in the region.
“In recent years, the Thai government has introduced a number of measures to promote its economic development and attract overseas investment. BOC Thailand has been planting its roots in Thailand for over two decades,” Yue said.“It will continue to capitalise on BOC Group’s abundant customer resources and diversified financial product and service platform to help more mainland enterprises going global invest in Thailand. In addition, it will enhance its services to better serve local enterprises, institutions and personal customers, and provide premium financial services and support to the economic and trade development between China and Thailand, as well as Thailand’s economy.”
As the first Chinese bank operating in Thailand, Bank of China established its representative office in Bangkok in 1994. It was upgraded to a branch, and then transformed into a subsidiary. Upon completion, BOC Thailand will become an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings), and the assets, liabilities and financial results of BOC Thailand will be consolidated into the financial accounts of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings).
Source:The Nation
Bangkok Becomes The World’s Most Visited City
Bangkok has become the world’s most visited city according to MasterCard’s 2016 Global Destination Cities Index annual report.
Bangkok’s number one ranking does not come as a surprise, as it has been in the top three most visited cities since MasterCard started this report. However, this rise came from a thirteen percent jump in traveler arrivals between 2015 and 2016. The only other top ten city to post a greater jump in arrival percentages was ninth ranked Tokyo.
Tourism has remained a strong point for this vibrant Southeast Asian country and appears to be virtually unaffected by the 2014 military coup. This year, Thailand has achieved 2.4 trillion baht of income from tourism, nearly 5% above the targeted of 2.3 trillion baht.
This increase in arrivals has been heavily influenced by the Government’s support of the tourist industry through tourism promotion campaigns on various destinations around the Kingdom and changes towards tourist visas – free or reduced visa fees, along with extending the long stay visa from one year to ten years.
To accommodate the steadily growing number of visitors, Airports of Thailand Plc, plans to spend 194 billion baht over the next 15 years to expand its six airports to serve 150 million passengers, against the current 71.5 million. There are also plans underway to connect
Don Muang Airport to Bangkok’s mass transit lines, linking it to Suvarnabhumi Airport.
To help Thailand’s tourist industry, the government has recently begun aggressively tackling the rise in illegally registered tour companies that specialize in ‘zero-dollar tours’, however, this has had a minimal effect on the overall visitor arrival numbers.
Even with the Thai Baht strengthening against many of the major world currencies, visitors still find excellent value in Bangkok.
Of the top five cities visited, Bangkok has the lowest accommodation costs, allowing visitors to spend their money in other areas.
While Bangkok is notorious for its gridlocked traffic, especially during rush-hour and after sudden rain storms, its taxi fares remain very good value for such a major city, costing about ten percent of top ranked Zurich. Furthermore, taxis can be found anywhere, and with virtually no wait. If traffic is an issue, then the BTS and MRT offer convenient transport to many popular attractions in the downtown area.
Visitors to Bangkok can enjoy Thailand’s exotic and often spicy cuisine at a fraction of the price found in their home countries. Thai food vendors are found on every street; a dish of grilled chicken, sticky rice and spicy papaya salad may cost three Euros. To help find a street food vendor, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have recently launched an app, “Street food Bangkok”, to help visitors find famous food vendors around the capital.
Bangkok is the top ranked global city destination, but it is often only a starting point for the 33 million visitors expected to arrive in Thailand this year. The Kingdom offers world class beaches full of sunbathers, or secluded little beaches, all overlooking the clear turquoise blue water of the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand. The mountainous north of Thailand offers a completely different experience from the south’s beaches. Travelers travel to Chiang Mai, where they can take day trips to see hill tribe people, go trekking in the mountains, or visit its numerous temples.
With so many visitors taking advantage of the government’s strong support of tourism, its many attractions and central location, Thailand is hopeful that it can retain its crown as MasterCard’s Global Destination Cities Index in 2017.
Source:Buriram Times
Why Vietnam’s Property Market Is Like China’s (In A Good Way)
Vietnam is looking more and more like the “next China.” It has similar demographics as the mainland, with a burgeoning middle class, and is also emerging from a Communist administration that is slowly opening the door to foreign investment. Vietnam has a particularly young population driving strong economic growth, and is undergoing the leap from an agrarian economy right into a post-industrial, service-driven economy in a matter of a couple of decades.
That is driving demand for urban property. Real estate in Vietnam saw a 12% increase in investment this year compared with the year before. Greater market transparency and projected economic growth of 6%, similar to this year’s rate, add to the momentum.Residential property and hotel space are in particular demand. The Vietnamese housing market has not been well-developed in the past, with a very small supply, so it experienced huge booms and massive busts. Prospective buyers got into fistfights while waiting in line to buy the handful of flats on offer. But Vietnamese property appears to be in a steadier upward trend now that the market is maturing.
Ho Chi Minh City – the former Saigon – is the second-most popular market in Asia for investment into residential apartments, according to the Urban Land Institute’s report on “Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2017.” In all, 71.4% of institutional investors rate Vietnamese apartments a buy, behind only Bangalore, where investors are unanimous that condos are a good bet – but they will struggle to find supply.
The supply is coming on line in Vietnam to meet demand from its population of 95 million. Investors are targeting smaller flats that appeal to domestic buyers. The residential sector “has now come good after a number of false starts, particularly if you focus on the local purchaser market,” one investor told the ULI. Affordable urban apartments are what the locals moving into Vietnam’s cities for the first time are seeking. Relocation of industry out of China is one factor causing Vietnam’s economy to thrive. Economic growth is running at 6.4%, according to Trading Economics, almost matching China’s rate of 6.7%.
Vietnam is benefitting economically from rising wages and higher operating costs in China. For instance, Ningbo-based Shenzhou International Group Holdings is ramping up operations in lower-cost Vietnam, alleviating some of its capacity constraints. Unfortunately, however, the Trans-Pacific Partnership appears to have fallen apart with the election of Donald Trump – economists calculated that Vietnam would have been the biggest beneficiary.Still, Vietnam is a strong industrial draw. Shenzhou is an OEM company that makes clothing incorporating materials such as Lycra and thermal fabrics, with a specialty in sportswear. Behind the scenes, it supplies Uniqlo and other top brands such as Adidas, Mizuno, Nike and Puma, approaching 15% of the clothing supply of those companies except Puma’s, which is at 30%.
The factories that companies like Shenzhou are building are bringing people into cities, and causing demand for urban housing. Farming has shrunk from some 25% of the economy in 2000 to 18% in 2014, a dramatic shift, while industry has risen from 36% to 38% of output, according to the CIA World Factbook.Services, including tourism, has seen the biggest boom and now accounts for 44% of the economy, per a 2015 estimate from the CIA Factbook. (The previous numbers are from 2014, explaining why the sectors add up to more than 100%).
High residential buildings under construction near Saigon river in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam has a few advantages over China.The median age is 30, whereas it is 37 in China.That means the bulk of the population is at the point of maximum productivity. The enthusiasm to make things happen is palpable – you feel, as a tourist, as if you could venture into the street and tell someone you want to go hang gliding, or spelunking, and they would make it happen that day.
Source:Forbes
Vietnam’s car sales hit record in 2016 amid tax cuts
The import tariffs for cars from Southeast Asia have been slashed and will be scrapped soon.Vietnamese consumers bought 304,427 cars last year, an all-time high in the country’s history, Vietnam Plus reported Wednesday, citing data from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
Last year’s figure beat the previous record of 244,914 units sold in 2015, and nearly twice the number of 2009.Sales of cars assembled in Vietnam jumped 32 percent, while imported units saw a 5 percent year-on-year increase, the association said.Leading local carmaker Truong Hai Auto led the tally, moving 112,847 units in 2016 or 41.5 percent of the market. It was followed by Toyota Vietnam with 57,036 units, accounting for 21 percent of the market, and Ford Vietnam with 29,011 units, or 10.7 percent.
Industry insiders expect sales of small cars to keep increasing sharply in the near future as Vietnam lowered its tariff rate from 45 percent to 40 percent last July and plans to cut it further to 35 percent in 2018. The policy applies to cars with engines smaller than 1.5 liters, which currently account for about half of the local market.
Completely-built units from neighboring countries are given a more favorable treatment. Since January 1, cars from Southeast Asian countries have been subject to a 30 percent tariff, compared to 40 percent previously. This will be completely removed from 2018, as part of an agreement between regional countries.
A booming economy has created more wealth for local consumers, who are switching from motorbikes to cars, and from cheap cars to luxury models. The economy is expected to grow 6.7 percent this year.
Source:Vnexpress
Vietnam plans new expressway connecting Hanoi and HCMC
The Ministry of Transport now seems to favor the project over a much more expensive plan for a high-speed rail link.Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport is seeking approval for a new 1,372-kilometer expressway linking Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as the exsiting north-south National Highway 1 has become overburdened.In a proposal submitted to the government, the ministry expects to secure a go-ahead by 2017 and to start construction no later than May 2019.
It hopes that work on the whole project, worth about $10.2 billion, will complete by December 2022. The government is expected to cover 40 percent of the cost while private investors will chip in the rest.The designed maximum speed is 120 kilometers per hour, or nearly 75 miles per hour.The project, if approved, will form part of a larger national expressway that runs more than 1,800 km from north to south. The other sections, totaling 470 kilometers, are under construction and set to be completed by 2020.
The construction of the Hanoi-HCMC expressway is urgent for various reasons, local media reported Friday, citing Vice Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat.He said that the north-south National Highway 1 has been overloaded by an increasingly large number of vehicles in recent years. Residential areas along the highway make it impossibile to expand the road to accommodate more traffic.
In March, the government unveiled plans to expand the network of national expressways from 2,500 km in 2020 to 6,411 km by 2030.The ministry has also planned to build a high-speed rail link connecting Hanoi and HCMC. Such a project could cost a lot more than expessways and would also require technical support from foreign companies and partners.In 2010 the ministry proposed a $56-billion high-speed railway but it was rejected by legislators. Last month, local media reported that transport officials were trying to revive the plan, but a new cost estimate and further details have not been provided.
Source:Vnexpress
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