Dragon Ball: Japan manga creator Akira Toriyama dies

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Akira Toriyama Dragon Ball Z graphic portrait seen during a gaming festival in BarcelonaGetty Images
By Fan Wang
BBC News

The creator of Dragon Ball, one of the most influential and best-selling Japanese comics of all time, has died at 68.

Akira Toriyama succumbed to acute subdural hematoma, a type of bleeding near the brain, his studio said Friday.

Dragon Ball is hugely popular around the world and the comic series has also spawned cartoon and film versions.

Fans have paid tribute to Mr Toriyama for creating characters that have become a part of their childhood.

The Dragon Ball comic series debuted in 1984. It follows a boy named Son Goku in his quest to collect magical dragon balls to defend Earth against alien humanoids called Saiyans.

Mr Toriyama had uncompleted works at the time of his death.

Akira Toriyama

Getty Images

He died on 1 March and only his family and very few friends attended his funeral, according to a statement from the Dragon Ball website.

“He would have many more things to achieve. However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world,” his studio said.

“We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come,” it added.

Fans offered their sympathies on social media.

“Thank you for creating a manga that represents my youth. Rest in peace, thank you for your hard work,” read a post on X, which instantly got 500 likes.

“It’s too soon, it’s too sad,” another Japanese X user wrote.

“His legacy will live on forever. Thank you for creating the most iconic anime character of all time Akira,” another user wrote.

Born in Nagoya, Japan in 1955, Mr Toriyama broke into the comic book world in the early 1980s with Dr. Slump, which tells the story of a little girl robot Arale and her scientist creator.

But Dragon Ball was his most famous work. To many fans, Son Goku’s journey from a kid who fumbles his martial arts training to a high-flying hero who can shoot bolts of electricity from his hands mirrors their own struggles against self-doubt as they grew into adulthood.

Dragon Ball inspired fan fiction writers and cosplayers who style their hair like the characters’ sharp and pointed locks.

The cartoon version has been dubbed in numerous languages and Dragon Ball action figures are a staple in toy stores from Japan to China and Southeast Asia.

In a 2013 interview with a Japanese newspaper Asahi, Mr Toriyama said he had “no idea” how Dragon Ball became so popular around the world.

He described the series as a miracle, “given how it helped someone like me who has twisted, difficult personalities do a decent job and get accepted by society”.

“When I was drawing the series, all I ever wanted to achieve was to please boys in Japan,” he said, according to news agency AFP.

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Firmer, less peaceful language on Taiwan reunification – Asia Times

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It was less than two days into 2024 when Song Tao, the director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, called on all Taiwanese to promote “peaceful reunification” with the mainland.

But down in the text, the New Year’s message posted to the office’s website had not-so-subtle wording, as Song warned “the motherland will eventually be reunified, and it will inevitably be reunified.”

The message came less than two weeks before Taiwan held its presidential and parliamentary elections and coincided with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s message that reunification was an all but foregone conclusion.

The thin rhetorical veneer of peaceful reunification has been gradually but significantly replaced with language that is more crisp in “advancing the cause of reunification.”

This week, upon releasing budget figures at the opening of the National People’s Congress, Premier Li Qiang dropped mention of “peaceful reunification” in his government report, according to a Reuters analysis of his speech.

Li reiterated China’s call for “reunification” with Taiwan but added emphasis that it wants to “be firm” in doing so and dropped the descriptor “peaceful”, which had been used in previous reports, Reuters noted.

To be sure, it was not the first time a top Chinese official had omitted the word “peaceful” when referring to Taiwan “reunification.” The firmer language has been repeatedly used by Chinese state officials and has been a mainstay in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) speeches, including in Xi’s speech before the 20th Party Congress in October 2022.

In the president’s words then, he and his countrymen “firmly” grasp “the leading position and initiative in cross-Strait relations, and unswervingly promote the great cause of the reunification of the motherland, which is the goal of work on Taiwan.”

In Xi’s China, the master historical narrative is much more important than the veneer of a peaceful transition. This makes the removal of the language a reflection of current realities and an affirmation that “rejuvenation” through peaceful or more violent methods is the primary focus of the state.

In this effort, China has been consistent dating back Xi’s speech at a 2012 “Road To Renewal” exhibition, where the restoration of China takes precedence over all other objectives. Taiwan is seen as a critical element, as Beijing has called its separation a “result of weakness and chaos in our nation” as noted in a 2022 White Paper, “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era.”

Reunification is also extension of the “Chinese Dream,” which is a collection of national myths and collective traumas manufactured by the state to extend beyond memory, back to the ancient Sui Dynasty of the 6th Century and the glories of the Ming Dynasty, which lasted until 1644. Failure to hold Taiwan is a part of China’s trauma-based nationalism.

So injurious to the Chinese Dream is the threat of failure that “compatriots” in Taiwan who were delicately described as “brothers and sisters” in 1978 are more commonly associated with conspiring to commit the most serious crimes of secession and treason.

Dead now are the remnants of Jiang Zemin’s diplomacy aimed at peaceful Cross-Strait relations, echoed in his report to the 16th Party Congress in 2002, in which the word “peaceful” was used in the Taiwan context nearly a dozen times.

The election outcome in Taiwan was a setback for China, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate William Lai won more than 40% of the vote – even though China’s Taiwan Affairs Office had warned on the Thursday before the January weekend election that he represented Taiwan slipping “ever further away from peace and prosperity, and ever closer to war and decline.”

Now, despite economic deflation, there are steep increases in China’s defense spending, up 7.2% for 2024 at US$230.6 billion. The surge in spending comes amid stern warnings about “external interference” and opposition to separatist activities aimed at promoting Taiwanese independence.

Long gone is a much milder approach, evidenced also in Hong Kong well prior to June 2020, when the promise of “one country, two systems” was that of a “high degree of autonomy.”

The decling rhetorical use of “peaceful reunification” also marks the broader realization that Taiwan has moved farther and farther from the control of mainland China. Taiwan’s investment in South Asia and Southeast Asia in 2022 was greater than investments the self-governing island made in mainland China.

Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has not only moved Taiwanese companies back from China, but has worked to engineer trade away from the mainland into the broader Indo-Pacific.

Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy, which targets 18 countries, almost doubled between 2016 and 2022. And the breadth of Taipei’s defense-related procurement and related military aid from the United States and other aligned countries makes the island a much more potent foe than it was 20 years ago.

With this reality, Beijing has set its sights on a reunion along the coercive terms it sets. As Taiwan becomes less interconnected and dependent on the mainland, more threats and less diplomacy are likely from Beijing.

Instead, contingency planning will continue to increase, evidenced by the recent weighing of options to blunt the effect of US sanctions in the case of a Taiwan conflict or recent mock drills simulating an island invasion by the military. While the language might simply be the removal of old rhetoric from an old, abandoned foreign policy, it also is symbolic of this new, more dangerous and volatile era.

Mark S Cogan is an associate professor of peace and conflict studies at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. His research interests include Southeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region, as well as security studies, peacebuilding, counter-terrorism and human rights. He is a former communications specialist with the United Nations, serving in Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

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ASEAN stands idly by, as usual, on South China Sea – Asia Times

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The latest developments in the South China Sea territorial dispute point to ASEAN’s long-running failure to deal with a major regional problem, highlighting the regional organization’s inherent weakness.

As the confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels near the Second Thomas Shoal within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) have grown sharper, the South China Sea has perhaps surpassed Taiwan as the most volatile flashpoint in eastern Asia.

On March 5, the Chinese Coast Guard again employed ramming and a water cannon to attempt to stop a much smaller Philippine vessel from resupplying the soldiers manning a ship intentionally grounded on the reef that serves as a Philippine guard post. 

This time, the Chinese water cannon broke the window on the bridge of the Philippine supply boat, reportedly injuring four crewmen.

Based on its expansive “nine-dash line” claim to ownership over most of the South China Sea, Beijing claims that the Second Thomas Shoal is Chinese territory, demands that the Philippines tow away the grounded ship and refuses to allow repairs to the vessel, which is 80-years-old and falling apart. 

China’s Nine-Dash Line. Source: Facebook

Both Beijing and Manila are treating the showdown as a test of commitment to defending national territory under threat of theft by a foreign government. Manila’s ally, the United States, is obligated to protect Philippine ships and aircraft that come under “armed attack” under a mutual defense treaty.

Typical of its preference for gray-zone tactics, China keeps its actions just below the threshold of what would trigger a US military response. But China is now employing kinetic force that can cause bodily harm, seemingly very close to an “armed attack” even if not with firearms. 

Furthermore, Philippine armed forces Western Command chief Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos says he is running out of vessels to run the re-supply missions because the Chinese water cannon attacks inflict damage that forces the supply boats to withdraw for repairs.

If this situation continues, China will succeed in driving Philippine personnel off a feature they currently occupy, changing the South China Sea’s status quo in Beijing’s favor. 

Washington will unavoidably consider an intervention such as US Navy or Coast Guard vessels escorting Philippine supply ships, or perhaps even standing guard while the Philippines builds a permanent outpost to replace the decaying ship. This could bring US and PRC ships into confrontation with each other, with the potential for further escalation.

In contrast, the Taiwan Strait has calmed slightly as an arena of potential US-China military conflict since the latter part of last year.

Taiwan continues to endure hostile Chinese signaling and, more recently, opportunistic Chinese encroachment into the waters around Taipei-controlled Kinmen island. But Beijing’s reaction to the election of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Lai Ching-te as Taiwan’s incoming president was moderate.

Beijing’s Taiwan policy will be mostly on auto-pilot through late May as the Chinese government waits to hear what Lai says in his inauguration speech. 

ASEAN could help prevent a conflict over the Second Thomas Shoal by unitedly condemning China’s aggressive attempts to enforce its excessive territorial claims. This would be a reasonable position to take.

Twelve years ago, ASEAN and the Chinese government agreed to a Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea, which obligates rival claimants to “resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force,” and prohibits “activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability.” 

China’s actions are clearly non-compliant. 

Then, in 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague declared China’s expansive nine-dash line claim invalid, giving China no lawful basis for asserting sovereignty over areas within the Philippines’ EEZ.  Beijing would be much less likely to bully the Philippines if all the other ASEAN members objected.

Sadly, that is not happening. The same week the Chinese Coast Guard was pummeling a Philippine supply boat with a water cannon, Australia hosted a summit of ASEAN leaders. On March 6, the entire group released a statement, called the Melbourne Declaration, that makes only a vague reference to the tensions around the Second Thomas Shoal.

“We continue to closely follow developments in the South China Sea,” it says. “We encourage all countries to avoid any unilateral actions that endanger peace, security and stability in the region.”

Contrary to the wishes of the Philippine delegation, the statement does not mention the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The statement displays boldness of conviction on other issues.  It criticizes North Korea for its missile test launches and nuclear tests. It “deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.”

And it calls for a cease-fire, increased access for humanitarian aid deliveries and a release of hostages in Gaza. But it gives the Chinese government a pass. 

The Australia-ASEAN summit leader lineup in Melbourne. Photo: ASEAN

While attending the summit in Australia, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim summed up the attitude of some of the ASEAN member states. “China seems to be the leading investor into Malaysia,” he said. “We do not have a problem with China.”

But Malaysia does have a problem with China. Beijing claims territory within Malaysia’s EEZ, Chinese fishing boats trespass there and patrols by Chinese ships and aircraft frequently annoy the Malaysian government.

This is a structural problem. ASEAN members agree to operate by consensus, meaning in practice every ASEAN member has veto power over every ASEAN action and statement.

Observers have criticized ASEAN for its weakness in addressing not only the South China Sea territorial disputes but also the Myanmar civil war, the Rohingya crisis and the problem of transnational air pollution caused by brush fires. Elites in Southeast Asia are themselves critical of ASEAN; most see it as ineffective, slow and unable to act unitedly. 

The relationships that individual ASEAN members have with China vary greatly. At one end of the spectrum is Cambodia, which is nearly a Chinese colony.

At the other end is the Philippines, which in April 2023 opened four new sites for US rotational military access under the two sides’ Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The Chinese government responded by saying the Philippines is “being used by the US” in “an act that escalates tensions in the region and endangers regional peace and stability.” 

This diversity of orientation toward China makes ASEAN almost incapable of taking a firm position in opposition to China on any strategic issue, even though Southeast Asians are sensitive and averse to Chinese domination.

Cambodia regularly blocks proposed ASEAN actions related to the South China Sea that displease Beijing. A senior retired Singaporean official publicly suggested that because Cambodia and Laos are satellites of China, ASEAN might need to expel them to save itself.

Both Beijing and Washington, for what it’s worth, voice support for “ASEAN centrality.” ASEAN is clearly useful to China as an obstacle to organized resistance against Beijing’s agenda. ASEAN’s usefulness to the US is less apparent.  

Given the economic importance of China to Anwar’s Malaysia and to various other Southeast Asian governments, it is understandable that they generally wish to avoid antagonizing China. 

In this case, however, they risk following that strategy so assiduously that they fumble the larger objective of preventing great power conflict from flaring up within their subregion in the South China Sea.

Denny Roy is a senior fellow at the East-West Center, Honolulu.

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IWD Deal Analysis: How IIX’s WLB6 Orange bond helps women’s livelihoods in Asia | FinanceAsia

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In a growing regional trend, December 2023 saw the sixth issuance of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)’s Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB) Series, the $100 million Women’s Livelihood Bond 6 (WLB6).

Altogether the IIX, since 2017, has raised $228 million to support women’s economic empowerment in Asia, with the overall trend in deal size on an upward trend. FinanceAsia discussed the investors, the rationale and the processes involved in order to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2024 on Friday, March 9 and the drive towards diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across the region. 

The closing of WLB6 marked the world’s largest sustainable debt security and was issued in compliance with the Orange Bond Principles and aims to uplift over 880,000 women and girls in the Global South.

Global law firm Clifford Chance advised Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and Standard Chartered Bank pro bono as placement agents.

Proceeds from WLB6 will be used to promote the growth of women-focused businesses and sustainable livelihoods across six sectors: agriculture; water and sanitation; clean energy; affordable housing; SME lending and microfinance across India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya and Vietnam. 100% of the $100 million proceeds designed to advance UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 5: gender equality and 25-30% designed to advance SDG 13 — climate action.

Robert Kraybill, chief investment officer, IIX, told FA: “The Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB) Series is a blended finance instrument that pools capital from public-sector development finance institutions and private-sector investors. The public sector investors provide risk-tolerant “first-loss” capital in the form of subordinated notes, while the private sector investors purchase the senior bonds.”

“The WLB Series targets a range of private sector investors seeking a combination of high impact with low risk and an appropriate return. From the outset, beginning with the WLB1, the bonds have attracted both family offices and institutional investors. Initially, this was skewed towards family offices. As the WLB issuances increased, we saw increased interest from institutional investors, such that over 90% of the WLB6 was placed with institutions,” added Kraybill. 

For WLB6, there were global investors on the deal including from the US, Europe and Asia Pacific (Apac). The WLB6 bonds comply with the EU and UK securitisation regulations, making it easier for European institutional investors to participate. For example, one of the investors was Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management which invested $30 million.

Kraybill said: “Throughout building the loan portfolios for the WLBs – from sourcing and screening to due diligence – we integrate traditional credit criteria with impact criteria. We look to invest in companies meeting our credit and financial criteria while delivering meaningful positive impact.”

“We are proud that we have not experienced any payment defaults or credit losses on any of the WLB loan portfolios, demonstrating the resilience of the high-impact women-focused businesses that we work with, even in the face of challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The first two bonds in the WLB Series – WLB1 and WLB2 – have matured and been fully retired, meeting all of their obligations to bondholders,” Kraybill added. 

The IIX, which is headquartered in Singapore and has offices in Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, also tracks the impact outcomes generated by its investment throughout the life of the bonds and reports on the targets. WLB1 and WLB2 exceeded impact projections, according to IIX.   

Complex deal

Given the number of parties involved and a myriad of regulations and compliance, the deal was not easy to put together. 

Gareth Deiner, partner at Clifford Chance, explained to FA the law firm’s role in the deal: “We’ve been involved for several years on these transactions, and this is not the first woman’s livelihood bond that the IIX team has put together.”

Singapore-based Deiner continued: “Historically, we have acted on the trustee side, but we have been advising the lead managers of the transaction for the last three offerings. It’s approximately a three to four month execution process to make sure we get the documentation agreed and the structure in place. IIX do the underlying due diligence on the borrowers, which is necessary given that the financing is raised from the international capital markets. Together with their counsel, they work on the disclosure in the offering document for the bond transaction.”

“As counsel to the lead managers, we are responsible for the underlying contractual documentation for the notes and the offering, but it’s IIX who retain control over the loan documentation with the notes proceeds end-users, and putting the loan pool together. They’re doing due diligence on the on the underlying borrowers of the deal,” he explained. 

This is backed up by IIX’s due diligence. IIX’s Kraybill explained: “The financial due diligence conducted by our credit team is similar to that of other emerging market lenders. What sets us apart is the upfront impact due diligence and ongoing impact monitoring and reporting conducted by our impact assessment team. Our team screens potential investments against rigorous eligibility criteria to ensure they contribute to positive outcomes for underserved women and gender minorities in the Global South while often empowering women as agents of climate action.”

Navigating US legal rules and dealing with investors from around the world also added to the complexity. 

Deiner said: “Dealing with a wide range of investors, including qualified institutional buyers in the US, we needed to comply with US federal securities law, including limiting the sale of the notes to qualified purchasers under the US Investment Company Act. There were also certain structural considerations raised by the EU and UK securitisation regulation.”

“From a legal perspective, it was an interesting deal because there’s a wide range of highly technical substantive law, which required the input from specialists across the Clifford Chance network. We have the expertise across the globe and do a lot of sustainable financing work,” continued Deiner. 

“Recently we’ve advised on some market-leading and groundbreaking transactions in terms of bringing sustainability finance technology to capital markets transactions,” he added.

However, this deal, in particular, involved social governance goals. 

Deiner explained: “What we like about this particular transaction is that so much of the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) agenda is about the environmental (E) angle, such as green bonds related to carbon transition and climate action. That encompasses sustainable  development goal 13 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).”

“However, you rarely hear about sustainable finance transactions that focus on the S and the G in ESG, which IIX champions. Each of the sustainable development goals (SDG) has its own hue, its own colour. This transaction focusses on SDG 5, which is gender equality, and are referred to as Orange bonds – orange being the hue for SGD 5. In addition, IIX has developed its own framework and principles to really drive that S in the ESG,” he added.

Tracking societal impact

There is still a key issue on how to track the impact of where the money ends up.

IIX’s due diligence process includes interviews with beneficiaries and stakeholders of investees,  using its own digital impact assessment tool to incorporate input from a broad group of female beneficiaries. This verifies impact claims while giving a voice and value to the women it is assisting, according to Kraybill.

He continued: “Our selection process for projects funded through WLB6 closely aligns with the objectives of The Orange Movement. Each of the bonds in the WLB Series adheres to The Orange Bond Principles, which focuses on empowering women, girls, and gender minorities, particularly in climate action and adaptation.”

IIX looks at the potential of each project’s mission, vision, goals, and business structure, to evaluate alignment with the core values of the WLB Series and The Orange Movement. Its impact assessment team conducts due diligence to ensure selected projects meet criteria outlined by The Orange Movement and contribute to promoting gender equity and addressing climate challenges in emerging markets, according to Kraybill.

With the rise of bonds connected to ESG and DEI, the scrutiny from investors is also increasing, especially with the prevalence of greenwashing. 

Clifford Chance’s Deiner said: “The legal landscape for green bonds and sustainability-linked bonds has evolved considerably in recent years, particularly regarding due diligence. When a company issues a green bond under a green bond framework, substantial work is required to ensure the bond’s integrity. This diligence has become a critical factor in investment decisions, as investors need to be confident that the environmental credentials are genuine and not merely an instance of greenwashing.”

“One of the key parts of the Orange bond initiative is achieving transparency in the investment process and decision, and the subsequent reporting, as the proceeds are going to an issuer who is on-lending it again, to, for example, a microfinance lender. It’s a combination of seeking an investment return and a view on the credit profile. The funds have specific objectives regarding capital allocation, and the appeal of the Orange bond aspect aligns with this focus,” Deiner added. 

$10 billion goal

The IIX has an ambitious goal of mobilising $10 billion by 2030 and optimism abounds. 

Kraybill said: “We remain optimistic about reaching our ambitious goal through sustained collaboration and concerted action, empowering women and girls worldwide while fostering inclusive and sustainable development.”

“Partnerships with the Orange Bond Steering Committee organisations, like the Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), Nuveen, and others, are vital in this endeavour. Together, we aim to build a gender-empowered financing system, mobilise new capital, and accelerate progress toward gender equality and women’s empowerment globally,” Kraybill added.

The Orange Movement is also building “Orange Alliances” at regional and national levels to bring together gender lens investors and other stakeholders. IIX is conducting training programs to train and certify Orange Bond verification agents.

“We’re introducing an “Orange Seal” for MSMEs and other organisations, which enhances their gender, DEI, and climate bona fides. We have expanded our transaction tagging functionality to include innovative finance instruments that adhere to the Orange Bond Principles framework. Furthermore, we’re eagerly anticipating the launch of the Orange Loan Facility, alongside numerous other initiatives to further the Orange Movement’s mission,” Kraybill said. 

He said: “We remain optimistic about reaching our ambitious goal through sustained collaboration and concerted action, empowering women and girls worldwide while fostering inclusive and sustainable development.”

The next bond could potentially be much larger than WLB6’s $100 million. 

Clifford Chance’s Deiner is also optimistic: “There’s a flow of transactions that we’re going to see over the next 12 months, and this an area that people are paying more attention to. The transactions have grown considerably over the years. These transactions have involved deals from around $20 million up to the latest offering of $100 million. So, there is clearly increasing demand for these transactions each year.”

Standard Chartered declined to provide a comment for the article.


¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.

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IWD Deal Analysis: IIX’s WLB6 Orange Bond helping women’s livelihoods in Asia | FinanceAsia

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On:
In: Asia, Finance, South-East Asia

In a growing regional trend, December 2023 saw the sixth issuance of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)’s Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB) Series, the $100 million Women’s Livelihood Bond 6 (WLB6).

Altogether the IIX, since 2017, has raised $228 million to support women’s economic empowerment in Asia, with the overall trend in deal size on an upward trend. FinanceAsia discussed the investors, the rationale and the processes involved in order to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2024 on Friday, March 9 and the drive towards diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across the region. 

The closing of WLB6 marked the world’s largest sustainable debt security and was issued in compliance with the Orange Bond Principle and aims to uplift over 880,000 women and girls in the Global South.

Global law firm Clifford Chance advised Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and Standard Chartered Bank pro bono as placement agents.

Proceeds from WLB6 will be used to promote the growth of women-focused businesses and sustainable livelihoods across six sectors: agriculture; water and sanitation; clean energy; affordable housing; SME lending and microfinance across India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya and Vietnam. 100% of the $100 million proceeds designed to advance UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 5: gender equality and 25-30% designed to advance SDG 13 — climate action.

Robert Kraybill, chief investment officer, IIX, told FA: “The Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB) Series is a blended finance instrument that pools capital from public-sector development finance institutions and private-sector investors. The public sector investors provide risk-tolerant “first-loss” capital in the form of subordinated notes, while the private sector investors purchase the senior bonds.”

“The WLB Series targets a range of private sector investors seeking a combination of high impact with low risk and an appropriate return. From the outset, beginning with the WLB1, the bonds have attracted both family offices and institutional investors. Initially, this was skewed towards family offices. As the WLB issuances increased, we saw increased interest from institutional investors, such that over 90% of the WLB6 was placed with institutions,” added Kraybill. 

For WLB6, there were global investors on the deal including from the US, Europe and Asia Pacific (Apac). The WLB6 bonds comply with the EU and UK securitisation regulations, making it easier for European institutional investors to participate. For example, one of the investors was Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management which invested $30 million.

Kraybill said: “Throughout building the loan portfolios for the WLBs – from sourcing and screening to due diligence – we integrate traditional credit criteria with impact criteria. We look to invest in companies meeting our credit and financial criteria while delivering meaningful positive impact.”

“We are proud that we have not experienced any payment defaults or credit losses on any of the WLB loan portfolios, demonstrating the resilience of the high-impact women-focused businesses that we work with, even in the face of challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The first two bonds in the WLB Series – WLB1 and WLB2 – have matured and been fully retired, meeting all of their obligations to bondholders,” Kraybill added. 

The IIX, which is headquartered in Singapore and has offices in Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, also tracks the impact outcomes generated by its investment throughout the life of the bonds and reports on the targets. WLB1 and WLB2 exceeded impact projections, according to IIX.   

Complex deal

Given the number of parties involved and a myriad of regulations and compliance, the deal was not easy to put together. 

Gareth Deiner, partner at Clifford Chance, explained to FA the law firm’s role in the deal: “We’ve been involved for several years on these transactions, and this is not the first woman’s livelihood bond that the IIX team has put together.”

Singapore-based Deiner continued: “Historically, we have acted on the trustee side, but we have been advising the lead managers of the transaction for the last three offerings. It’s approximately a three to four month execution process to make sure we get the documentation agreed and the structure in place. IIX do the underlying due diligence on the borrowers, which is necessary given that the financing is raised from the international capital markets. Together with their counsel, they work on the disclosure in the offering document for the bond transaction.”

“As counsel to the lead managers, we are responsible for the underlying contractual documentation for the notes and the offering, but it’s IIX who retain control over the loan documentation with the notes proceeds end-users, and putting the loan pool together. They’re doing due diligence on the on the underlying borrowers of the deal,” he explained. 

This is backed up by IIX’s due diligence. IIX’s Kraybill explained: “The financial due diligence conducted by our credit team is similar to that of other emerging market lenders. What sets us apart is the upfront impact due diligence and ongoing impact monitoring and reporting conducted by our impact assessment team. Our team screens potential investments against rigorous eligibility criteria to ensure they contribute to positive outcomes for underserved women and gender minorities in the Global South while often empowering women as agents of climate action.”

Navigating US legal rules and dealing with investors from around the world also added to the complexity. 

Deiner said: “Dealing with a wide range of investors, including qualified institutional buyers in the US, we needed to comply with US federal securities law, including limiting the sale of the notes to qualified purchasers under the US Investment Company Act. There were also certain structural considerations raised by the EU and UK securitisation regulation.”

“From a legal perspective, it was an interesting deal because there’s a wide range of highly technical substantive law, which required the input from specialists across the Clifford Chance network. We have the expertise across the globe and do a lot of sustainable financing work,” continued Deiner. 

“Recently we’ve advised on some market-leading and groundbreaking transactions in terms of bringing sustainability finance technology to capital markets transactions,” he added.

However, this deal, in particular involved social governance goals. 

Deiner explained: “What we like about this particular transaction is that so much of the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) agenda is about the environmental (E) angle, such as green bonds related to carbon transition and climate action. That encompasses sustainable  development goal 13 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).”

“However, you rarely hear about sustainable finance transactions that focus on the S and the G in ESG, which IIX champions. Each of the sustainable development goals (SDG) has its own hue, its own colour. This transaction focusses on SDG 5, which is gender equality, and are referred to as Orange bonds – orange being the hue for SGD 5. In addition, IIX has developed its own framework and principles to really drive that S in the ESG,” he added.

Tracking societal impact

There is still a key issue on how to track the impact of where the money ends up.

IIX’s due diligence process includes interviews with beneficiaries and stakeholders of investees,  using its own digital impact assessment tool to incorporate input from a broad group of female beneficiaries. This verifies impact claims while giving a voice and value to the women it is assisting, according to Kraybill.

He continued: “Our selection process for projects funded through WLB6 closely aligns with the objectives of The Orange Movement. Each of the bonds in the WLB Series adheres to The Orange Bond Principles, which focuses on empowering women, girls, and gender minorities, particularly in climate action and adaptation.”

IIX looks at the potential of each project’s mission, vision, goals, and business structure, to evaluate alignment with the core values of the WLB Series and The Orange Movement. Its impact assessment team conducts due diligence to ensure selected projects meet criteria outlined by The Orange Movement and contribute to promoting gender equity and addressing climate challenges in emerging markets, according to Kraybill.

With the rise of bonds connected to ESG and DEI, the scrutiny from investors is also increasing, especially with the prevalence of greenwashing. 

Clifford Chance’s Deiner said: “The legal landscape for green bonds and sustainability-linked bonds has evolved considerably in recent years, particularly regarding due diligence. When a company issues a green bond under a green bond framework, substantial work is required to ensure the bond’s integrity. This diligence has become a critical factor in investment decisions, as investors need to be confident that the environmental credentials are genuine and not merely an instance of greenwashing.”

“One of the key parts of the Orange bond initiative is achieving transparency in the investment process and decision, and the subsequent reporting, as the proceeds are going to an issuer who is on-lending it again, to, for example, a microfinance lender. It’s a combination of seeking an investment return and a view on the credit profile. The funds have specific objectives regarding capital allocation, and the appeal of the Orange bond aspect aligns with this focus,” Deiner added. 

$10 billion goal

The IIX has an ambitious goal of mobilising $10 billion by 2030 and optimism abounds. 

Kraybill said: “We remain optimistic about reaching our ambitious goal through sustained collaboration and concerted action, empowering women and girls worldwide while fostering inclusive and sustainable development.”

“Partnerships with the Orange Bond Steering Committee organisations, like the Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), Nuveen, and others, are vital in this endeavour. Together, we aim to build a gender-empowered financing system, mobilise new capital, and accelerate progress toward gender equality and women’s empowerment globally,” Kraybill added.

The Orange Movement is also building “Orange Alliances” at regional and national levels to bring together gender lens investors and other stakeholders. IIX is conducting training programs to train and certify Orange Bond verification agents.

“We’re introducing an “Orange Seal” for MSMEs and other organisations, which enhances their gender, DEI, and climate bona fides. We have expanded our transaction tagging functionality to include innovative finance instruments that adhere to the Orange Bond Principles framework. Furthermore, we’re eagerly anticipating the launch of the Orange Loan Facility, alongside numerous other initiatives to further the Orange Movement’s mission,” Kraybill said. 

He said: “We remain optimistic about reaching our ambitious goal through sustained collaboration and concerted action, empowering women and girls worldwide while fostering inclusive and sustainable development.”

The next bond could potentially be much larger than WLB6’s $100 million. 

Clifford Chance’s Deiner is also optimistic: “There’s a flow of transactions that we’re going to see over the next 12 months, and this an area that people are paying more attention to. The transactions have grown considerably over the years. These transactions have involved deals from around $20 million up to the latest offering of $100 million. So, there is clearly increasing demand for these transactions each year.”

Standard Chartered declined to provide a comment for the article.


¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.

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Where to find great Vietnamese coffee in Ho Chi Minh City: Egg coffee, the best cafes and more

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No country produces more caffeine than Vietnam, aside from Brazil. The nation’s coffee industry, which was introduced by French colonists in the 19th century, is now a US$ 3 billion ( S$ 4 billion ) industry that accounts for nearly 15 % of the global market, making Vietnam the Southeast Asian java giant.

However, excellent has only recently begun to catch up with amount, primarily as a result of farmers starting to increase Vietnam’s long-standing cultivation of less expensive, easy-to-grow robusta beans with an expert’s beloved, arabica.

Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s largest district, has had a significant impact thanks to the cafe scene.

As more and more independent roasteries and niche coffeehouses sprout up around the city’s European imperial opera house, amid the megamalls and boutiques of popular Dong Khoi Boulevard, and in the shadow of the high-rise towers in District 2, the wholesale business of coffee is booming thanks to lead crop- to- shop supplies.

The town has a eatery for almost every coffee acolyte, from semi-hidden bohemian hangouts like RedDoor to fashionable chains like Laviet&nbsp, which has its own espresso farm close to Dalat in the country’s central highlands&nbsp.

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Commentary: There’s a US billion opportunity if Singapore closes women’s health gap

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WOMEN’S Wellness If MATTER TO MEN TOO

To address the health disparities faced by people, a multidimensional approach encompassing tailored study, equal access to meet for objective solutions, and increased funding is needed.

Now, research and data collection fall little in addressing children’s special health needs. Just half of global research describe results by female, with outcomes less advantageous for women virtually two- thirds of the time compared to men. Without clearer knowledge on how health problems and treatment may affect people separately, these differences impact the quality of attention they receive.

Disparities is even endure in treating conditions like heart disease and problems administration, where women usually receive poor treatment, leading to poorer health outcomes. For example, men are three times more likely than women to get cardiovascular resynchronisation treatments for tachycardia. These distinctions contribute to over one- second of the global health space affecting people.

Lastly, despite achievements in integrating people into research and clinical studies, opportunities in women’s health also remain overwhelmingly low. For example, between 2009 and 2020, just 5.9 per share of grants in Canada and the United Kingdom focused on women- specific outcomes or women’s wellness issues.

We need to appear at women’s wellness as more than better care for women- but as a base for total political happiness and progress. Bridging the health space had set off a network effect that positively impacts individuals, communities, and economy in Singapore and the universe. &nbsp,

Lucy Perez is Top Partner with McKinsey &amp, Company and health capital co- head of the McKinsey Health Institute. Sachin Chaudhary is Top Partner with McKinsey &amp, Company and president of the medical practice in Southeast Asia.

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Telkomsel leverages Google Cloud’s AI to improve customer experience

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  • Utilizing conceptual AI in a strategic partnership across the company’s platforms&nbsp
  • Enhance the individual expertise, customer interaction, network planning andamp;, &nbsp, development.

Telkomsel leverages Google Cloud's AI to improve customer experience

Leading online company in Indonesia, Telkomsel, has just announced an innovative partnership with Google Cloud that aims to connect enterprise-grade conceptual AI into its operations and key item offerings. The organization is “delivering hyper- personal and smooth modern client experiences across its B2C, B2B, and B2B2C segments,” according to Dennis Heng, CEO of Telkomsel. &nbsp,

The inclusion of Google Cloud’s conceptual AI into Telkomsel’s platforms, which include MOANA, MyTelkomsel, MyEnterprise, and MyAds, strengthens Telkomsel’s already-established collaboration with Google. Through its integrations with Google Cloud’s innovative, safe by default, and secret by design gen AI capabilities in 2024, Telkomsel hopes to uncover more opportunities for accelerating Indonesia’s financial and modern ecosystem growth, he added.

Telkomsel aims to improve the individual experience through a general AI-powered linguistic agent within its MOANA application by utilizing Google Cloud’s Vertex AI system and foundation models. This representative aims to streamline HR-related tasks and promote a more creative work environment by offering real-time assistance and guidance to over 6, 000 workers.

AI-based research assistants

Telkomsel also intends to improve customer interactions across its digital platforms by integrating gen AI-based research assistants within the MyTelkomsel and myEnterprise apps to create a more intuitive and personalized user experience. This initiative is expected to empower users with seamless access to information, significantly reducing the time spent navigating complex menus and enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

Telkomsel plans to use Google Cloud’s AI to evaluate data from mobile turrets and fiber optic systems as part of the engagement, which also includes product development and community planning. In order to quickly and easily determine locations with connection gaps for upcoming network infrastructure expansion and develop fixed smart convergence offerings tailored for various customer segments, strengthening digital inclusion throughout Indonesia. According to Mark Micallef, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Google Cloud,” Telkomsel is moving at amazing speed and scale to create organization- quality general AI accessible and useful to its employees and customers.” &nbsp,

In addition to enhancing its IndiHome FMC providing with Android TV set top boxes, extending the reach of various offerings through personal ads on Android TV, and increasing the variety of modern lifestyle options available through MyTelkomsel’s existing collaborations with another Google product teams, Telkomsel’s collaboration with Google Cloud strengthens its existing collaborations with another Google product teams. Erick Thohi, Indonesia’s Minister of State Owned Enterprises, praised the acquisition of Indihome and Telkomsel in July of last year, which could create an Indonesian aggregators that could compete with international players like Google and Meta.

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Volume One 2024 magazine out now | FinanceAsia

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We are delighted to announce that the first volume of FinanceAsia’s 2024 bi-annual magazine, is now available for your perusal. 

In this edition, we celebrate all the winners the FinanceAsia Achievement Awards 2023 and explain the rationale behind why each institution won. In addition to the Deal and House Awards for Asia and Australia and New Zealand (ANZ); this year we added a new category, the Dealmaker Poll, which recognises key individuals and companies based on market feedback. 

 

In feature format, Christopher Chu examines the potential and reach of artificial intelligence (AI) in Asia – the fast-moving technology is presenting both huge challenges and opportunities for investors. While it remains caught in the cross-hairs of geopolitics and regulation, he examines how AI could be a game-changer for productivity.

 

Ryan Li explores the proposed breakup of Chinese giant Alibaba and how the firm’s ambitions fit in with wider developments across China’s tech sector.

 

Also in the magazine, Andrew Tjaardstra reviews IPO activity across key Asian markets in 2023 and looks ahead to how public markets might perform in 2024 – while it certainly hasn’t been an easy ride for the region’s equity markets over the last 12 months, there have been some bright spots, notably India and Japan, which are set to continue their momentum this year.

 

Finally, read Ella Arwyn Jones’ exclusive interview with Rachel Huf, the new Hong Kong CEO of Barclays. Huf shares her transition from lawyer to leader, offering insights around her career path and the strategic direction of the bank in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) over months to come. 

 

Click here to read the full magazine issue online. 

 


¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.

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Taylor Swift row points to healthy ASEAN competition – Asia Times

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Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister of Singapore, has made it known that a secret agreement was signed to allow Taylor Swift to play primarily in the city-state during her The Eras Tour, preventing her from staging shows in other East Asian countries.

At a press conference held at a regional summit in Melbourne, he said,” Our ) agencies negotiated an arrangement with her to come to Singapore and perform and make Singapore her only stop in Southeast Asia.”

The support for Swift’s promoters has evolved into a political problem for Singapore, drawing criticism from neighboring countries for coming up with the idea to pull them out of the most profitable concert tour in past.

Swift wo n’t play anywhere else in Southeast Asia for six nights at Singapore’s National Stadium. With” Swifties “arriving from across the area to find her sit work at the 55, 000-seat venue, the concerts are expected to be a major visitor draw and revenue-earner for the city-state.

According to reports from the local press, House of Representatives member Joey Salceda claimed that the behavior are” not in line with the do” required of good neighbors. He added that these agreements are in opposition to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN )’s founding principles.

This column demonstrates how fierce is the ASEAN economy’s competitiveness. International investors will be drawn to the growing intraregional competition, despite the Sharp row continuing to irritate some.

Among the ten different nations in ASEAN, there are transformative changes being driven by economic development, policy reforms, and proper collaborations.

Integration and economic development

The ASEAN region is a powerhouse in the world economy thanks to the region’s spectacular economic growth rates. &nbsp,

Cross-border collaborations have been fuelled by the commitment to economic integration through initiatives like the ASEAN Economic Community ( AEC ), presenting a new unified economic front to the world. &nbsp,

International investors looking for various investment options, especially in the “de-risking” from China age, are attracted to this collective growth as personal economies strive to outpace one another.

Vietnam, for instance, has recorded strong economic growth and established itself as a key player in the region in recent years as a striking actor. &nbsp,

Its proactive involvement in trade agreements like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership ( CPTPP ) has increased its appeal to investors all over the world.

Developing network

The ASEAN economy ‘ efforts to develop and improve system are more intensifying. &nbsp,

Governments in the area are making significant investments in constructing cutting-edge transport systems, electronic equipment, and sustainable energy systems.

This addresses private concerns as well as making these nations attractive centers for businesses and investors looking for effective communication.

In Indonesia, one of the country’s optimistic infrastructure initiatives, including the planned construction of a new capital city, exemplifies the country’s commitment to creating a contemporary and well-connected environment. &nbsp,

These initiatives encourage local development as well as attracting international investors looking for opportunities in the fields of construction, technology, and related fields.

Trade, technology, and engineering

ASEAN’s technology and innovation environment is rapidly evolving, creating a climate conducive to healthy competition. Nationwide, encouraging business ecosystems, and supporting Market 4.0, are all investments in digital transformation. ”  ,

This tech-driven culture places ASEAN as a rising force in the world of technology, as well as boosting the competitiveness of personal economies.

The city-state’s devotion to utilizing technology for sustainable growth is illustrated by Singapore’s” Smart Nation” initiative. &nbsp,

Singapore is positioning itself as a local software hub, drawing international investors interested in the burgeoning tech field, with a focus on areas like artificial intelligence, security, and intelligent industrial options.

A web of linked industry is emerging as a result of ASEAN’s strategic involvement in regional and global industry contracts, opening up new opportunities for investors. &nbsp,

The signing of contracts like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP ) and continued agreements with major economy contribute to the charm of ASEAN countries as portals to diverse and wide areas.

income from a statistical perspective

Some economies in the region have a statistical benefit that appeals to investors because of their huge and young populations.

With its young population and workforce who speak English, the Philippines is a prime example, and has long been a popular destination for business process outsourcing ( BPO ) and shared services. &nbsp,

Knowledgeable global investors are closely monitoring the developments, recognizing the enormous potential and opportunities that the vivid place holds. As the competition for trade and investment among these economies continues, experienced global investors are closely monitoring the developments. &nbsp,

As a major player in the global financial environment, the sizzling competition is also reshaping the ASEAN environment. Not to mention Taylor Swift’s musical schedule.

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