Dear [First Name],
While working from home, do you feel that you are spending more time attending to the office than before the pandemic? If you do, you are not alone. The Asset’s regular conversations with the industry point to the same sense. Adjusting to this new work situation takes getting used to – and perhaps the importance of a better balance to avoid burn-outs. How do you manage?
This explains the elevated volume of activity in the G3 bond market this summer of 2020 when during most previous years fund managers and bankers take a break to recharge. This is the subject of our latest cover story, Why investors are sheltering in China’s ‘fang’.
Perhaps catching up following the lockdowns in the first quarter, we analyze what’s behind the flurry of high-yield new issues from Chinese real estate companies that were being printed daily during what was supposed to be the quiet months. China as a component of the offshore US dollar bond market accounts for 2/3 of the volume of new issuances in the Asia-Pacific. To supplement our analysis, we also reveal the best individuals in Asian G3 bonds for 2020.
In this issue, we publish our annual Philippine Report with the title, Playing the long game, reflecting on how the country is struggling to contain Covid-19 despite having the longest enhanced community quarantine measures in place in Southeast Asia. Even as its macroeconomic buffers remain in place, the question in investors’ mind is for how much longer. The Asset conducted an exclusive interview with Governor Ben Diokno of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas who shares his take on how Covid-19 is accelerating digitalization. You can read the full version of the interview here (Part One) and here (Part Two).
As we enter the final stretch of 2020, it seems this pandemic isn’t going away anytime soon. Please continue to stay safe and take care of each other.
Kind regards,
Daniel
Editor-in-chief
