Word: asia
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...been with Standard Chartered. Though headquartered in London, most of StanChart's operations are centered in the emerging markets of Asia, the Middle East and Africa - and as a result, it has not only weathered the crisis but continued to prosper. Last year, during the height of the economic storm, the bank's pretax profits surged 19%, while assets increased 32% to $435 billion. This was no fluke: StanChart in early May said it achieved record profits in the first quarter of 2009, and its London-listed shares have doubled since March. Such a stellar performance during the worst recession...
...further credit. To strengthen the bank's financial position even more, Sands raised $2.7 billion in capital through a December share sale, raising the bank's key "tier one" capital ratio to 10.1%. (An 8% ratio is considered healthy.) Jaspal Singh Bindra, StanChart's Hong Kong - based CEO for Asia, says that previous downturns like the 1997 Asian crisis made management especially wary of financial-system turmoil. "We learned that when there is a market problem, it spreads from a problem to a crisis very quickly," Bindra says...
...Although the bank's emerging-markets exposure in the past may have been something of a liability, it's turning out to be a strength today. StanChart derives 80% of its operating profits from Asia. While growth has plunged in some of the bank's most important regional markets, like Singapore, others have remained relatively buoyant, especially India, where StanChart has the largest branch network of any foreign bank. Its breadth across some of the region's fastest-growing economies gives it an enviable profile. StanChart "is one of the best-placed banks in the world," says Alex Potter, banking...
North Korea is great at scaring its neighbors. The isolated dictatorship carries a real nuclear threat, and tested its latest device this May in an underground bunker. Tensions in East Asia heightened this week after Pyongyang threatened "a fire shower of nuclear retaliation" if the U.S. or its allies in the region attempted any provocative action when trying to curb North Korea's missile program. Even those with historically warmer ties to the pariah state, such as Russia and China, have bristled at Pyongyang's latest moves. Still, North Korea may not be without friends...
...East Asia's bid for economic leadership in the low-carbon age may push the Americans - and certainly the Europeans - to intensify their engagement with green technologies. The space race spawned a lot of the advances in technology that we take for granted today. The green race may do the same thing for low-carbon products and processes - and in this competition, the world stands to be the real winner...