Societe Generale SA plans to expand its Asia fixed-income team by more than 10 percent next year as hedge funds, insurers and central banks diversify from developed markets, said Robert Reilly, co-head of the division.
France’s second-largest bank by market value will have increased the team by more than 50 percent to 70 this year, said Reilly, who moved to Hong Kong from Sydney in January to oversee the expansion, in an interview on Friday. The team will boost its research staff to seven from four, based in Hong Kong and Tokyo, in the coming months. He declined to give more specific figures on the expansion.
“We’ve seen a marked growth of inquiry and transactions in Asian rates from clients who used to just sit with developed-market products,” he said. “It’s a diversification play. As the share of the world’s gross domestic product in Asia is increasing, funds need to be more focused and turned on to Asia.”
“Our recommendation is to be long Asian currencies against the euro,” he said. “There is so much pressure on the US to strengthen their currency that the euro is going to weaken on the back of that. Such a strong euro is going to hamper economic recovery across Europe.”
Long positions are bets that a currency will rise.
Asian central banks may be more willing to tolerate appreciation in their currencies against the euro because they have been focusing on stabilizing the dollar exchange rate to protect exports, Reilly said. Societe Generale recommended on Oct. 28 that investors buy the Korean won against the euro, predicting an 11 percent advance in the Asian currency.
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
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