Rest Of World

Capital Group's Andy Budden, investment director, equities, and Manusha Samaraweera, investment director, fixed income, discussed US productivity growth, high tech valuations, rate cuts, the importance of multinationals, and more, in Singapore last month.

Studies have shown the positive correlation between having female investors or fund managers on team, and portfolio returns. Female finance leaders told FA that a diversity of experiences and skills are important in a fast-evolving sector.

BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment will control the two ports in the Panama Canal; the deal includes ports in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East, but not in Hong Kong or mainland China. CK Hutchison's co-managing director Frank Sixt said the deal "is purely commercial in nature".

The BlackRock owned infrastructure investor is targeting the region as it is being driven by "strong economic growth".

HSBC's chief executive Georges Elhedery said the bank is on track to make $300m of savings by the end of 2025; the London-headquartered bank has also exited its Bahrain retail business and announced a $2bn share buyback.

Ian Johnston, chief executive, Dubai Financial Services Authority, is confident the growing flows between Asia and the Middle East will continue.

Retaliatory tariffs, a stronger dollar and several u-turns from the Trump administration are creating an uncertain outlook for 2025 and is pushing up the price of gold; meanwhile, Hong Kong and China are lodging complaints to the WTO.

The deal includes an agreement to buy Banner Life, enter a partnership in the US pension risk transfer business, and an intention to take a 5% shareholding in Legal & General Group.

The release of a competitive low cost large language models not only shifts the AI narrative away from expensive hardware, but also prompts debate about a potential inflection point for fund managers, with some models potentially not surviving.