Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently pledged to promote more than 150 quality infrastructure projects in five nations in the Mekong River subregion—Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos—under a new blueprint, the Tokyo Strategy 2018 for Mekong-Japan Cooperation, which will be effective from 2019 to 2021. Japan and China are competing for influence in Southeast […]
Private equity firm casts net on Mekong region
April 5, 2018 by
A new private equity firm based in Phnom Penh is scouring the Mekong region for opportunities after making its first investment in the parent company of a leading Cambodian online real estate portal. Established in late 2017, Belt Road Capital Management (BRCM) has secured $50 million in committed capital from predominantly Asia-Pacific (APAC) investors and […]
IFC plans for more investments in microfinance
March 20, 2018 by
INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector arm of World Bank Group, has invested US$23.5 million (about Bt736 million) in four microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Myanmar, and is eager to invest more this year. Vanessa Vizcarra Bianchi, IFC’s lead of financial institutions advisory services for Mekong Region, said in an exclusive interview that the organisation […]
IFC to boost support for microfinance in Myanmar
March 15, 2018 by
INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector arm of World Bank Group, has invested US$23.5 million (about Bt736 million) in four microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Myanmar, and is eager to invest more this year. Vanessa Vizcarra Bianchi, IFC’s lead of financial institutions advisory services for Mekong Region, said in an exclusive interview that the organisation […]
Japanese Life Insurer With Myanmar Presence Eyes Cambodia
May 4, 2017 by
Japan’s Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc plans to start a life insurance business in Cambodia in 2018 and expand its US presence, its president said, in line with the firm’s strategy to boost overseas growth as investment returns diminish at home. Life insurers in Japan have been hit by lower returns with massive stimulus measures, aimed […]
Vietnam’s Stock Market is Set to Boom – That’s Good News For Yangon’s Bourse
January 10, 2017 by
A few weeks ago I had the chance to spend some time exploring the Vietnamese city of Saigon – or more precisely, District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Without doubt the place is the hottest ticket in town for investors targeting the Mekong region. And it is easy to understand why. This […]
ANZ’s Yangon branch wins approval
October 1, 2015 by
ANZ has received final regulatory approval from Myanmar’s central bank for the opening of a branch in Yangon . The decision clears the way for ANZ to open its office in Myanmar’s largest city on October 2. The new office will service multinational and joint venture companies with a presence in Myanmar, as well as […]
Myanmar launches Thilawa industrial zone
September 24, 2015 by
THANLYIN, MYANMAR — Dignitaries from Myanmar and Japan on Wednesday launched the first phase of a huge industrial zone on the outskirts of Yangon, as the long-isolated nation pushes to rapidly accelerate its industrialisation. Housing everything from children’s toy manufacturing to a car assembly plant and a deep-sea port, the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) […]
