Nguyen Phu Trong: Vietnam’s long-serving leader dies at 80

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Vietnam’s long-serving head Nguyen Phu Trong has died” after a period of illness”, marking the end of a democratic age.

The government announced his resumption of his health weeks after he was reportedly tasked with performing his duties as president to Lam.

As the public minister of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party since 2011, and at one point even double-hatting as leader, Mr Trong was seen as one of the country’s most effective leaders in years.

Besides overseeing the supercharged expansion of Vietnam’s market, the 80-year-old was known for his “blazing furnaces” anti-corruption plan.

Mr Trong’s dying comes at a time of political turmoil for Vietnam’s Socialist management. Three of the most prominent officials have recently resigned in response to unnamed allegations of crime.

Mr. Trong passed away “due to old time and significant disease,” according to an official statement from Friday.

The Taiwanese government announced in a surprise news that Mr. Trong needed time to “focus on effective treatment” for an unnamed medical condition a day later. It added that the president may get over Mr Trong’s responsibilities in running the group’s central committee, committee and secretary.

The state also gave Mr. Trong the Gold Star, Vietnam’s highest distinction, for his contributions to the group and nation, on the same day.

When Mr. Trong welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin on a state visit, he was last seen later in June.

However, he resisted attending a number of activities before the publication of a book that contains some of his remarks.

In recent years, there were several instances where he would disappear from the public eye for long stretches of time. In 2019, he was reported to have had a stroke.

Little may be said about the state’s recent breaks, despite Mr. Trong’s frequent acknowledgement that he had health and aging problems. According to observers, the country’s power to regulate group leaders’ and state officials ‘ health serves as a way to portray Vietnam as a stable country under single-party guideline.

In 2018, the country passed a law classifying leading officers ‘ health as a state solution, prompting the now tightly-controlled regional media to be even more careful. Social media has long been a hotbed for severe rumors about his health.

Spectators claim that he hinterlies a significant but unfinished reputation. He served a unique three terms as general director before regaining control in 2011. From 2018 to 2021, he served as president during this time.

He recognized the necessity to expand Vietnam’s market; under his leadership, the nation’s GDP per person more than doubled, and Vietnam signed a number of free trade agreements with its neighbors in the West and Asia. Mr. Trong was viewed as more eager to learn about the world than his forebears, establishing ties with Mr. Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and US leaders.

At the same time, he ardently clung on to his socialist principles. According to Zachary M. Abuza, a teacher and Southeast Asia specialist with the National War College in Washington DC, “he was a job lifelong thinker… he was a real believer,” and I think that’s why ties between Vietnam and China have grown so close.

He “always believed in keeping the party tidy and relevant so that the party could live with the country for another 1, 000 years,” he said. He therefore saw the Vietnamese Communist Party’s and the country’s future as interconnected, according to Giang Nguyen, a former BBC Vietnamese editor and visiting senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

Mr Trong launched his “blazing furnaces” campaign to root out corruption that deepened in tandem with Vietnam’s growth. Approximately 200 000 officials have been charged with criminal offenses or faced disciplinary proceedings since then, according to estimates.

But there are few signs it has truly succeeded in stamping out the problem. The country still performs dismally in international corruption rankings. In recent months Vietnam has been rocked by one of its biggest fraud scandals ever, involving a staggering $44bn (£34bn) filched from banks.

The anti-corruption drive has been seen as sparking a critical shortage in the public service sector. It’s also been seen as contributing to instability within the Communist Party, where so many top officials have been purged – due to corruption or infighting – that very few are left as possible successors, particularly in the paramount political leadership team, the Politburo. Only two currently meet the conditions to inherit his post: Mr Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

” The talent pool has n’t been prepared by Mr Trong. It shows he could n’t control the forces within the party anymore”, said Mr Nguyen.

Dr. Abuza argued that the anti-corruption drive” served the party in ways that]Trong ] did n’t expect, because it exposed how widespread corruption is at the party’s highest level.”

Vietnam also continued to impose stricter restrictions on human rights and the right to free speech while under his rule. It has jailed or deported scores of dissidents, activists and bloggers, and passed draconian laws limiting the press and internet.

His death, and the question of succession that it poses, puts Vietnam in uncharted waters. For many Vietnamese,” we share the feeling of anxiety of the unknown”, said Mr Nguyen.

” It is the end of an era. That version of communism or socialism, the old times, it’s now gone. What’s next is going to be very difficult to foresee. The system is still in place, but it lacks the ideology and ideals that make it so.

Additional reporting by BBC Vietnamese.

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Traders from London to Singapore struggle as cyber outage disrupts business

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” We are having the family of all international business disruptions”, one investor said. ” People ca n’t switch their computers on after restarts. Those who did n’t restart are doing fine”, another trader said. According to a spokeswoman for the Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft Financial Industry Association, European businesses are experiencingContinue Reading

How geeks of war mobilized Ukraine drone operations – Asia Times

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Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war, volunteers have provided several infantry units with a lifeline. Past tech workers have taken the lead in using the imagination and creativity of the Russian people to avert a larger power. They are now using the creativity and resourcefulness of the Russian people to drive innovation.

The Russo-Ukrainian conflict has highlighted the crucial role that volunteers may enjoy in upcoming conflicts, such as a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, and how regular people will eventually play a part in assisting the opposition.

establishing a group to aid the Army

Dmytro Zhluktenko, who is also known as Dimko, ( a title he adopted to make it easier for foreigners to say his name ) is a 25-year-old former software engineer who once worked on Airbus and Boeing products.

Initially from Rivne, Ukraine, he lived a comfortable life in Ukraine prior to the full-scale war. As Russian tank invaded Ukraine and Russian bombs were dropped on Russian towns all over the nation, nothing much changed. Speaking to Frontsight Media, Zhluktenko said that he made the decision, driven by a strong sense of duty to his country and his loved ones, to join the resistance.

” I’m just a regular Ukrainian trying to help his state,” I say. I was born in 1998 in a free and independent Ukraine”, Zhluktenko said. He expressed with a lot of comfort about his lifestyle and how much he enjoyed his life and work before the war, which he thought would give him some daydreaming about how peace may appear in Ukraine once more.

Zhlutenko recalled from the start of the conflict that “my partner and I agreed we would not leave Ukraine.” He made the commitment to dedicate a time of his life to assisting in his charity work.

When the war began, Zhluktenko’s companions in the military started reaching out for basic needs, he said. He did this as he began to act. Zhluktenko eagerly shared his plans to start a racing shop before the war broke out, but those plans were soon put on hold as the full-scale invasion began.

On March 11, 2022, he&nbsp, posted&nbsp, on X:” I hope one time I’d been able to come back to Twitter and start telling you calm stories about Ukraine and technology. But for now, it’s just combat on my head, and there is nothing except Russia’s retreat that can help it”.

He began using his own money to buy products for his companions and began&nbsp, tweeting&nbsp, about his endeavors. His previous work as a software engineer and connections to the field from his earlier life as an IT engineer proved to be important.

He knew online and from people who were total strangers, but funds started pouring in from both of them. Zhluktenko was aware of the potential effects he could have and was determined to increase his efforts to assist the Russian army in any way he could. From here on out, the fund&nbsp, Dzyga’s Paw&nbsp, was established.

Zhluktenko’s technical background pays out

Zhluktenko treated the program like an IT job, applying measures, building a site and creating a&nbsp, clarity system&nbsp, that tracked every payment and price.

He had initially been a one-man display, but Zhluktenko formed a team to expand the scope of the project. He needed a main team to assist with all the work in order to achieve more. Yet, demand for supplies immediately outpaced what the account could provide. ” We had to promote all incoming pleas”, he said.

” Once a week, we held a Scrum-like gathering to prioritize calls and establish our purchases”, noted Zhluktenko. This Lean approach, a approach focused on continuous development and ongoing feedback, was borrowed from his&nbsp, program engineering&nbsp, days. Scrum, a model within Agile, facilitated this by structuring the job into sprint-like duties and regular stand-up meetings. This allowed them to respond immediately to the demands of the organizations they supported.

Given the widespread narrative of problem in Ukraine, Zhluktenko felt that a high level of accountability was necessary, particularly given how well-known funds were used, as it demonstrated in every way how they were used.

It was a competitive edge because it won the hearts and minds of the populace, especially given the perception that Ukraine is dishonest. The more clarity that we showed, the more pleasure we got from sponsors”, Zhluktenko explained.

A follower of the bank, Karla Wagner from the Netherlands, explained to Frontsight: &nbsp,” I discovered Dzyga’s Paw on doing an exhaustive online search to find an intriguing generosity that aligned with who I am. I decided to start donating to the fund because of Dzyga’s thoroughly modern transparency and effectiveness, the fact that they would n’t shy from military ( more than humanitarian ) assistance, where many others do”.

Donating began when I realized Dimko was basically doing a very attentive job of showing people that donations were really translated into real support on the ground, according to Thomas Blikshavn, a follower from Norway. I found it impressive that he went to such lengths to show accountability and that he was so open about how much cash he was giving away to other people.

According to Blikshavn, problem in Ukraine is” a major talking point for the army.” Nevertheless, he highlighted that the staff at Dzyga’s Paw “represents a new generation of Russians, fostering beliefs like honesty, responsibility, confidence in national identity”. He continued,” The resolve shared by the supporters of Dzyga’s Paw and Ukraine is unwavering. We may continue to support you until you win. We’re not going somewhere. United, we may win”.

Zhluktenko’s work rapidly grew into a multi-million-dollar donation, which has had a profound effect on the field and not only from a supply chain view. ” Each and every expense done as a foundation was automated”, he said. Despite Russia’s invasion going on for several years now, they have not seen a decline in donations, consistently raising$ 100, 000 a month.

As Zhluktenko aimed to give Ukraine an advantage over Russian forces by using superior technology, the fund concentrated on tech equipment, giving Ukrainian forces a technological edge.

The fund’s main objective was to provide units at scale that desperately needed assistance by using commercial technology, including drones and Starlinks. Danilo Makarov, a drone pilot from the 108th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, previously&nbsp, told&nbsp, Frontsight that “you can no longer fight a battle without having a drone above”.

The value of volunteers delivering drones to frontline units cannot be overstated. ” The only thing preventing Russia’s breakthrough on all fronts is FPV ( first-person ) drones, 90 percent of which are being provided by volunteers or military divisions themselves”, a Ukrainian military commander, Lt Col Pavlo Kurylenko, said in an interview with&nbsp, The Telegraph.

Another soldier from the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade added that without such a strong volunteer force supporting the Ukrainian army, it would have been impossible to fight back against Russia.

Ukrainian units benefiting

Dan, whose call sign is” Kovbassa”, is a commander of an aerial reconnaissance unit in the 47th Mechanized Brigade currently fighting on the Pokrovsk-Avdiivka axis. He claimed that Dzyga’s Paw and other volunteer organizations provided 90 % of the civilian tech supplies his unit received during the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

These supplies included FPV &nbsp, drones, power banks, Starlinks, and reconnaissance drones. “Dzyga’s Paw has been working with us since our unit was first established. Their support was vital to get us going”, said Dan. ” They are the most trusted fund I know” .&nbsp,

Vlad Sokolov, an emergency response officer for the State Emergency Office of Ukraine, claimed that Zhluktenko quickly assisted his unit in getting the supplies they desperately needed at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Zhluktenko said that in total, Dzyga’s Paw has worked with over 100 Ukrainian units since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Many of the drones delivered by Ukrainian volunteers such as Zhluktenko, including the Chinese Mavic 3 Pro models, are heavily relied upon by Ukrainian units for reconnaissance. Starlinks also provides frontline communication for the Ukrainian army. Volunteers can obtain these items thanks to the extensive use of civilian technology by the Ukrainian army, which plays an important part in the wartime supply chain.

In a prior&nbsp, Frontsight&nbsp, interview, Norman, a drone unit commander from the 109th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade pointed out that things were disorganized and soldiers could deploy drones wherever they were. The Ukrainian units still have a heavy reliance on the same&nbsp, Chinese drones&nbsp, used at the start of the war such as the DJI Mavic model.

Dependence on cheap drones

Kostyantyn Mynailenko, a commander of an aerial reconnaissance unit in the Liut Brigade, said,” The Russians have many more drones than us. They are supplied by a reliable source, China. Our Chinese drones must be ordered indirectly from Europe and delivered to Ukraine. Because China‘s share of the world’s global electronics supply chains comes directly from China, this has become a problem for Ukraine.

According to the&nbsp, Washington Post, the use of” cheap drones” enabled Ukrainian soldiers to achieve a tactical advantage on the battlefield, despite the Russians having superior numbers and more extensive weaponry. However, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has been heavily dependent on volunteers managing supply chains for drones to achieve that advantage on the battlefield.

Leading innovation on the battlefield

Zhluktenko and his team were among the first to begin fostering tech innovation on the frontlines in the spring of 2022.

” At first, we were weird geeks who delivered drones and Starlinks to the frontline”, Zhluktenko said with a beaming smile.

However, soldiers were joking about the difficulties they were facing with drones and getting data back to command centers. We heard soldiers saying they needed to conduct reconnaissance on areas of forest where visibility was low, and they wanted to make sure they could reduce their losses while doing this work, he said.

Zhluktenko began to piece together a solution by speaking with friends on the front, asking them what their routine was. He identified the necessary improvements and how they could be carried out. He helped operationalize live streams by connecting them to Google Meet and streaming directly to the command center using the internet connection provided by Starlink in an effort to improve communication with command posts using drones.

” We were streaming through Google Meet as the drone and tablet would be connected. Although the quality was poor, it was sufficient at the time to complete the task,” Zhluktenko said. ” We were the early adopters of this process”, he said.

Looking ahead

Zhluktenko has signed a contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and will be enlisting in the battle on the front lines after volunteering his contribution to the war effort. He is currently undergoing training as a drone pilot in Kyiv and will soon be deployed. He has also recently gotten&nbsp, married.

Shortly before their wedding, Zhluktenko’s wife Ira&nbsp, posted&nbsp, on X:” I am going to marry soon. I ca n’t invite some of my friends to my wedding because they chose to fight for our independence, for the freedom of every Ukrainian citizen, me in particular. And they were killed by Russians”.

As our interview concluded, a deep sense of duty was evident in Zhluktenko’s tone as he spoke about his imminent departure for the front. He expressed his desire to spend a proper honeymoon with his wife, and he also had a dream of visiting a stunning country abroad. He is preparing to join his fellow countrymen on the frontline in the fight for his country’s freedom, wearing a military uniform instead of a wedding suit.

David Kirichenko is a freelance journalist and volunteer activist for the Ukrainian-Ukrainian War on behalf of the Russian-Ukrainian side.

This article was originally published by Frontsight. It is republished with permission.

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Australian banks, media, airlines hit by major IT outage

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A number of American businesses have reported experiencing a widespread IT outage, including big banks, media outlets, and an flight.

At the Sydney aircraft, Jetstar has been hacked, supermarkets are having shopping panic, and broadcast networks have been hampered on air due to autocue and graphics failures.

A few airlines in the US reported having to earth planes according to Microsoft IT issues hours before Australia was seriously impacted.

Although the cause of the interruption is unknown, some of the damaged people have suggested that it was due to Microsoft PC operating systems.

Problems are being reported by the National Australia Bank, the telecoms company Telstra, Google, and more, according to the Outage site Downdetector.

In a speech on Twitter earlier this morning, the standard Microsoft 365 services update stated” we’re investigating an issue affecting people ‘ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”

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Trump’s JD Vance problem is now China’s, too – Asia Times

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Xi Jinping, the president of China, is upset that his Second Plenum extravaganza is competing for attention with occasions 11 000 kilometers away from Beijing.

In Xi’s protection, it’s tough to compete for articles with an&nbsp, death attempt&nbsp, against former US President Donald Trump half a world apart. That comes just over two months after Trump’s heated argument with a mentally challenged President Joe Biden.

However, Trump’s selection of JD Vance as his working mate could indicate a much bigger upstaging of Xi’s biggest financial plans going forward.

US votes seldom, if ever, move on VP takes. And Vance, a first-term lawmaker from Ohio, is more Trump “mini me” than a working partner who may develop the card’s charm. But Vance is an important communication choose– signaling a doubling down on Trumpism’s worst intuition.

Doubling down on Trumpism’s worst intuition

And it might be negative for Trump’s hopes that he might be more contextual than confrontational in a second term.

Granted, this was always a longer shot. However, Tokyo officials have been having a hard time accepting the possibility of Trump striking a “grand discount” trade agreement with Xi, leaving other important Asian nations looking inward from the outside.

It’s anyone’s think what having China-hawk Vance– who’s all-in on revoking Beijing’s “most-favored state” standing – whispering in the government’s ear does think for a Trump 2.0 presidency. It at least suggests that Trump’s 60 % price is just the start of a larger campaign to rekindle trade wars.

The credit damage could be exceptional. UBS Group AG believes that just this duty had cut China’s annual rise by more than 50 %, slapping 2.5 percentage points off the gross domestic product of Asia’s largest economy. China grew just 4.7 % in the first quarter &nbsp, amid weak retail spending, property investment and new home sales.

That would smash China ‘s&nbsp, trade website, which has been a particularly strong growth driver this year. There is also a chance that other nations will even impose tariffs on imports from China, according to UBS economist Wang Tao, who believes that increasing exports through and production in other economies may help lessen the impact of higher US tariffs over time.

That includes Europe, which has been angling to decrease down China’s energy vehicle&nbsp, business. Biden, to, announced a 100 % tax on China-made Vehicles. Trump, though, has telegraphed 100 % or 200 % tariffs on all imported cars.

Trump’s choice to support Vance over the Republican presidential campaign’s potential for VP almost indicates a desire to bargain. In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Vance called Xi’s business the “biggest danger” to America.

Lin Jian, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, responded to Vance’s question about Chinese elections by referring to Beijing’s “opposes US votes making an topic of China.”

In April, Vance argued Washington’s rely on Ukraine is a harmful diversion. ” To be powerful enough to push back against the Chinese, we’ve got to focus there, and right now, we’re stretched to thin”, noted Vance, who’s long called for “broad-based taxes” on Chinese products.

Vance also supports returning American production to the country to lessen dependence on Beijing. Of course, Biden does to. However, the Trump-Vance plan will undoubtedly concentrate more on attempting to stifle China’s economy rather than fostering domestic financial muscles or rekindling US innovation.

Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, tells the South China Morning Post that a Trump-Vance White House would be more involved in the Taiwan issue than Trump’s 2017-2021 management.

” Vanes would strengthen and enhance China’s software restraints and suppression,” Wu claims. He may pay close attention to the Taiwan problem because he thinks it is very significant for the US economy, particularly in terms of cards.

Suddenly, Trump would supposedly call the shots. But the Vance wrinkle might make it even harder for Trump to distance himself from” Project 2025″, the&nbsp, 900-page playbook the Heritage Foundation&nbsp, devised for a second Trump term. Vance has close associations with the blueprint’s artists.

Though the policy’s efforts to heart the state legal company gets the most interest, Project 2025 also advocates for the abolition&nbsp, of the Federal Reserve and reverting back to a gold standard for the US dollar. These concepts are certainly comforting to China’s international trade reserve managers, who are in charge of the US$ 770 billion in US Treasury securities holdings.

The upcoming US election is beginning to have a significant impact on how Xi’s market will fare. In Beijing this year, Xi is convening with major Communist Party officials at the&nbsp, long-awaited Third Plenum. And the world is watching.

” Historically, this function has been important in signaling important legislation shifts and economic changes in China”, notes analyst Alicia Garcia-Herrero at Natixis. Market individuals and China watchers hope the Third Plenum will address a very specific issue: whether enough growth-enhancing steps will be announced to restore the country’s struggling business after years of disappointing performance.

Xi is calling on group leaders to demonstrate “unwavering beliefs and commitment” to his transformation interests championing “high-quality development”. International academics are paying particular attention to  fiscal reforms, particularly those involving taxes and federal spending, and initiatives to lessen the burden on local governments by increasing their income sources.

Yet the work comes at a time when some international&nbsp, expense banks are cutting projections for China’s development. Additionally, China’s international markets are depressed by its lack of extreme stimulus measures.

” This” ,&nbsp, Garcia-Herrero says, “has important consequences for the global economy, namely that China’s demand for foreign products will remain subdued and that Chinese companies will continue to rely on foreign markets to survive. This suggests that trade war are still raging in newspapers and possibly going on beyond.

The signs that Team Xi sends to foreign buyers are all-watched. Given that property policies are one of the main topics of discussion at the meeting, the continuous downturn continues to pose the greatest threat to the market given its considerable wealth effect, according to Kevin Wong, an analyst at currency broker Oanda.

According to Wong, policymakers are “walking on a line” to reduce the risk inherent in the real estate industry as a result of the last ten years ‘ unsuccessful purchase initiatives to fuel economic growth. They are also aware that a further drop in real estate prices may cause inflation to spiral downward.

Wong adds that the US$ 41 billion system, which was announced in May to assist state-owned companies in purchasing empty housing investment from property developers, has so far failed to “bolster mood in the property sector as housing prices continued to decline in June.”

Wong believes that” the next policy-market approach may be taken into consideration during the Third Plenum, given the urgency of reviving the current weak state of local domestic demand, is to implement more prominent fiscal stimulus initiatives that can have a strong impact on consumer spending, such as spending vouchers or further , tax rebates , without launching quantitative easing measures to add more liquidity into the market that can lead to renminbi depreciation and in turn

If such a form of direct fiscal stimulus measures is announced, Wong concludes,” the China and Hong Kong stock markets may get a short-term sentiment boost”.

Yet&nbsp, many&nbsp, argue that expectations are quite low for policy fireworks out of Beijing this week.

This “four-day meeting of the country’s top governing body could n’t come soon enough”, says Harry Murphy Cruise, an economist at Moody’s Analytics. However, it’s unlikely to be a particularly exciting situation given that the demand for reform is high.

The same ca n’t be said of risks emanating from Washington. The political polarization behind the&nbsp, Capitol Hill&nbsp, insurrection&nbsp, on Jan. 6, 2021&nbsp, contributed to&nbsp, Fitch&nbsp, Ratings ‘ August 2023 move to revoke Washington’s AAA status. Even if Trump loses in November, there’s a zero percent chance he would concede graciously.

Moody’s Investors Service, the keeper of Washington’s only remaining AAA, points to these risks, as well as clashes over funding the government and raising the statutory debt ceiling, as threats to the US credit outlook.

Trump also has opinions that will undoubtedly pique the interest of Asian policymakers. As a New York&nbsp, businessman in decades past, Trump was a serial bankruptcy filer. Trump made an illogical flurry of hints about a default on American debt while campaigning in 2016.

” I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal”, Trump told&nbsp, CNBC&nbsp, when asked about his fiscal plans. ” And if the economy was good, it was good. So therefore, you ca n’t lose”.

In 2020, the Washington Post reported that Trump officials, looking to punish China, mulled&nbsp, cancelling debt&nbsp, held by Beijing. It’s not difficult to comprehend how catastrophic a catastrophe that would be as the US debt is rising toward US$ 35 trillion.

Trump’s reelection platform and choice of running mate suggest that global investors are likely to have no idea where Sino-US trade disputes might turn next.

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Clifford Capital’s CEO on scaling infrastructure debt financing | FinanceAsia

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Clifford Capital is an equipment credit leasing program focused on creation, distribution, and investment across infrastructure and other genuine assets globally.

The Singaporean government supports the business, which has a plan authority to boost exports and foreign investments, and has pledged to fund projects around the world since it was founded in 2012. &nbsp,

The largest transaction to date for Clifford Capital recently sold for$ 5 million, making it the fifth public infrastructure asset-backed securities ( IABS ) transaction. A subsidiary of Clifford Capital and a wholly owned and newly incorporated distribution vehicle of Bayfront Infrastructure Management ( Bayfront ), which also includes the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ( AIIB ) as a shareholder, is Bayfront Infrastructure Capital V ( BIC V ).

BIC V features a collection size of approximately$ 508.3 million multiply across 37 personal money and bonds, 36 tasks, 15 states and 10 market sub-sectors. BIC V has an original aggregate main balance of US$ 218.4 million of ready green and social resources, as defined under Bayfront’s Sustainable Finance Framework, which represent 4 % of the overall principal balance of the profile.

FinanceAsia&nbsp, recently caught up with P. Murlidhar ( Murli ) Maiya, Clifford Capital’s group chief executive officer, to discuss the infrastructure debt financing landscape and its scalability.

FA: Describe your company and the sweeping changes being made to the environment of structured financing options, especially in network purchases, on which Clifford Capital focuses.

Maiya ( pictured&nbsp, above ): &nbsp, Clifford Capital was established 12 years ago, with the support of the Government of Singapore, to address a financing gap in long-tenor credit for infrastructure companies and projects with a nexus to Singapore. We as a group enjoy over$ 5 billion in government guarantees, which give us the ability to raise money at a very competitive price, which in turn allows us to extend credit across long tenors.

Our main areas of focus have always been on the power and coastal infrastructure sectors. However, the concept of system has evolved significantly over time, especially with technological&nbsp, development and the growing emphasis on responsible and socially equal development. As a result, we internally redefined infrastructure to encapsulate all sectors that provide essential services to people and raise the standard of living.

From a credit standpoint, conducting an in-depth analysis of the organization’s or project’s likely cash flows has always been a part of infrastructure financing. One of the keys to our success has been our constant effort to uphold a high standard of analytical rigor throughout the credit process. This analytical rigor is readily applicable to what is now a much wider range of relevant infrastructure sectors, enabling us to provide clients with creative debt financing solutions even for those that were previously viewed as infrastructure.

FA: Could you describe some of the subtleties of these industries and how you see them as the originators of long-term debt financing deals?

Maiya: Beyond renewable energy and digital infrastructure, there is a lot of interest in the data center market, which will grow as demand increases as AI becomes more prevalent. Unlike conventional real estate projects, data centres often enter long-term contracts with hyper-scalers, like major cloud service providers, and these long trem contracted cash flows provide the basis on which non-recourse debt can be structured.

Given the important roles that social infrastructure plays in society and their advantages over traditional long-tenor financing, such as schools, universities, and hospitals.
In industrials and transportation, we see sectors like steel, cement, and aluminum in transition to cleaner and more energy efficient production methods. Financing for intriguing new technologies is also being fueled by a combination of policy support and corporate sustainability goals.

Additionally, the transportation sector is undergoing significant changes, particularly in the electric vehicle space. Parts of the electric vehicle ( EV ) value chain, such as charging infrastructure and batteries lend themselves to infrastructure-like financing solutions. This evolution demonstrates how important verticals, such as transportation and industrials, are both experiencing significant shifts in sustainability.

Lastly, for our natural resources vertical, our focus is on new resources like green hydrogen, green ammonia, and key mineral resources like lithium, nickel, etc. to propel the upcoming sustainable economy.

FA: Given your various strategic priorities, how do you decide which client opportunities to pursue?

Maiya: We primarily assist businesses with debt financing when they want to invest regionally or globally. We do this by supporting those with strong ties to Singapore. We look into any financing issues they might have in commercial markets. Notwithstanding our government support, we operate on a commercial basis, and always ensure rigorous credit assessment and market-based pricing.

Our industry groups all benefit from our credit analysts ‘ expertise. We have been making real progress on this front, and sustainability is another area of focus for us. In 2023, 52 % of new primary loans originated were for infrastructure projects that are green and/or sustainable.

FA: Could you elaborate on how sustainability is affecting the industry you run in?

Maiya: The rise of green and sustainable initiatives has a significant impact on the growth trajectory of infrastructure debt financing. Across client organisations, we’ve observed varying approaches, but they all converge on a common challenge: the immense funding needed for the green transition to achieve net zero emissions. The Asia-Pacific region receives only about 10 % of global funding, despite having a third of the world’s funding needs. This discrepancies offer significant opportunities for businesses like us.

Another powerful tool is blending finance, which can sometimes be a challenge in Asia, to unlock funds for sustainable development. Local governments, multilateral development banks, and other concessional capital sources are making tangible commitments to blended finance.

For instance, the MAS’s Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership ( FAST-P), a blended finance initiative that aims to mobilize up to$ 5 billion to finance transition and marginally bankable green projects in Asia.

Clifford Capital is also responsible for its commercial operations, and it is crucial to demonstrate positive commercial outcomes. By delivering returns to our private sector shareholders, we are also demonstrating our ability to combine public policy objectives with private capital initiatives. This demonstration demonstrates that it is possible to incorporate a public policy goal into a successful business model, allowing it to catalyze other sources of capital over time.

FA: How do you stand out from the competition when it comes to providing debt financing for infrastructure projects?

Maiya: Due to our ability to take on greenfield construction risk and longer tenor financing, we have a unique approach in comparison to most institutional capital providers. Institutional capital frequently struggles with construction risk, preferring to invest in already-active assets that generate cash flow.

Our area of expertise is in managing risks at this stage. We develop a specialized financing plan that addresses the needs of the borrowers while upholding a code of ethics for creditworthiness and market-clearing pricing. Due to the variations in contracts and economic business models, this combination calls for specialized technical skill sets that vary by industry. We have invested a lot of time in developing teams and procedures that make it easier for us to operate in the demanding world of infrastructure credit.

FA: How do you intend to expand your debt-free solutions to make room for the significant funding gap?

Maiya: Clifford Capital has a proven method for distributing infrastructure credit. We established the Infrastructure ABS asset class in Asia and still run a highly profitable securitization business under the name” Bayfront.” We also obtain loans from both primary and secondary loan markets, primarily from the banking industry, in addition to originating our loans from corporate clients. Then, based on their risk appetites, we then divide the loans into securitized portfolios and divide them into various tranches. We keep a sizable portion of these structures ‘ original losses.

Our end-to-end origination and distribution model makes the company’s ability to raise significant capital quickly, allowing us to fund higher credit volumes without having to rely solely on our own, expanding the company’s scalable business model. Through Infrastructure ABS, our efforts to bring institutional debt capital into the infrastructure market bridge the financing gap in the Asia Pacific region for green infrastructure. &nbsp,

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Merchantrade Money Biz set to challenge corporate credit cards

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  • aims to make price management simpler for a variety of businesses.
  • Promises to be M’sia’s second business prepaid cards, redefining expense management

Merchantrade Money Biz set to challenge corporate credit cards

There are no longer days of “pay & say,” where many hours are squandered with the trouble of mixing personal and professional funds, or insurance delays that raise the risk to employee finances and good governance.

By digitising and automating old processes, Merchantrade Asia Sdn Bhd ( Merchantrade ), a leading innovator in digital financial services, unveiled their Corporate Card, Merchantrade Money Biz, which it claims is Malaysia’s first Visa Business Prepaid Card.

This cutting-edge product aims to make expense management simpler for a variety of businesses, from corporations to SMEs, by enabling them to save time, lower errors, and sustain better control over their finances with a flexible solution.

A multi-currency eWallet-linked expense management portal with functions designed for the modern business are seamlessly combined with a Visa Business Prepaid Card ( with a US$ 10,600 ( RM50, 000 ) cap and unlimited card issuance per company ).

Merchantrade Money Biz set to challenge corporate credit cardsMerchantrade Money Biz’s founder and managing director Ramasamy K. Veeran ( pic ), said the company intends to disrupt traditional corporate credit cards issued by banks. Merchantrade Money Biz helps employees at all levels with business prepaid cards, in contrast to traditional cards made for senior managers. This innovation eliminates the risk of overspending and interest-free transactions, giving employers a powerful expense management system and a viable alternative for businesses unable to obtain classic corporate credit cards.

Improving Global Payments, Multi-Currency app, and Advanced Automation Powered by Visa, the firm prepaid cards can be used by people to make payments worldwide, both online and financial, for various company-related expenses. Additionally, it works with a multi-currency app that enables people to turn up to 20 of the world’s most popular foreign currencies at locked-in costs for international payment. The expense management portal, on the other hand, not only facilitates and digitises business techniques, it also provides 100 % rankings on all purchases and includes robust settings, enabling financing groups to close ebooks faster.

” We are delighted to work with Merchantrade Asia to create the initial prepaid card for Malaysian corporates and SMEs,” said Roy Choudhury Debarun, head of Business and Money Movement Answers for Regional Southeast Asia at Visa. Given that we have seen a double-digit increase in business card spending in Malaysia in comparison to the prior year, this is a timely and relevant solution. This demonstrates the rising need for businesses to adopt cutting-edge repayment methods in the nation. With our global community and in-depth knowledge of bills, Visa is committed to empowering companies. Our partnership with Merchantrade serves as a testament to our desire to promote financial inclusion in the B2B payments industry and promote Malaysia’s continued financial growth.

Over 80 businesses have registered for the option during the captain phase so far, indicating a strong demand for the new product and good reception for it. This demonstrates Merchantrade’s commitment to providing comprehensive online financial solutions that properly address the changing needs of Malaysian businesses.

With new instruments, works, and partnerships in growth, the company is confident the answer will transform the way companies operate. Additionally, Merchantrade’s vision aligns with the government’s push to encourage businesses to digitize their operations and embrace automation in order to create a more cashless society.

For more info, visit https ://www.merchantrademoney .com/business/

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China: Xi Jinping tackles slow growth as economy ‘hits the brakes’

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China’s economy stumbled in the second quarter, standard data reveals, just as the country’s best leaders gathered for a important meeting to solve its slow progress.

It grew 4.7% in the three months to June, falling short of expectations after a stronger start in the first three months of 2024. The government’s annual growth target is around 5%.

” China’s market hit the brake in the June fourth”, said Heron Lim at Moody’s Analytics, adding that experts are hoping for answers from the conference under way in Beijing, even called the Third Plenum.

The country’s second-largest business is facing a prolonged residence problems, rough local government debt, poor consumption and high unemployment.

In China, the outcome of the Plenum has influenced the course of history. Deng Xiaoping first opened China’s industry to the world in 1978, and Xi Jinping made hints in 2013 about loosening the contentious one-child plan.

And so there are objectives of this year’s Plenum, where President Xi Jinping is presiding over a closed-door meeting of 370-plus high-ranking Chinese Communist Party people.

The language on state-controlled multimedia has undoubtedly been encouraging.

An editor in The Global Times said a “wide collection of reform-focused safeguards” are “high on the plan” and may usher in a “new book”. Xinhua referred to” complete” and “unprecedented” measures. A “new age of transformation and beginning up” was the subject of the People’s Regular newspaper, which Deng famously coined in 1978.

Spectators, however, are unaware of how much room there is for striking suggestions or controversy in the Party under Mr Xi’s heavily-centralised management. Some people view the appointment as merely a rubber-stamping exercise for already-made choices.

The appointment may provide a quick fix, according to economists, who are also skeptical.

It has “little effect on near-term growth”, says Qian Wang, Asia Pacific chief analyst at Vanguard, because its target will be on longer-term and more important measures to “unleash the long-term development potential”.

However, experts will become watching for disclosures that signal the Party’s financial priorities.

Separate data from Monday showed that June’s fresh home prices dropped at the fastest rate in nine times.

This provides more information of the global property issue that has decimated China’s housing sector and caused the bankruptcy of eminently successful companies like Evergrande. There’s a chance that it could spread to different sectors of the economy.

” There are more than 4, 000 businesses in China and over 90 % are smaller, regional institutions which are very exposed to the housing market and local authorities bill”, says Shanghai-based analyst Dan Wang.

She thinks that group leaders will “push for the consolidation of little banks.”

Another problem is falling pricing, which is a sign of weak demand. Retail sales increased by only 2 % in June, which is below expectations and a sign that consumers are still cautious about spending and uncertain about the future.

” A major problem is the loss of family, firm, and investor confidence in the government’s ability to navigate the deadly financial environment”, said Eswar Prasad, former head of the International Monetary Fund’s China division.

Questions remain about Beijing’s willingness to offer the kind of solution that would appeal to both observers and the markets.

” The government is reluctant to turn to short-term stimulus plans such as cash transfer to families”, Dan Wang said. Instead, we anticipate that they will focus on strengthening supply chains and high technology once more.

That is in line with Beijing’s bets on high-tech industries such as renewable energy, AI and chip-making, and exports to revive the economy. Last month, China reported a record trade surplus-$ 99bn ( £76.4bn )- as exports soared and imports struggled.

But even that wager has challenging odds. Important trading partners like the United States and the European Union have imposed tariffs and other restrictions on everything from EVs to cutting-edge chips made in China.

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