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[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Chubb Investment Management (HK) Limited (“Chubb Wealth”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Chubb, has launched a new wealth management platform for high-net-worth investors, providing access to a selection of mutual funds and private market opportunities. The launch coincides with continued growth in Hong Kong's private wealth sector, where assets under management rose 15 per cent year on year to more than HK$10tn by the......

Alibaba Group Holding has recruited a research scientist from Google DeepMind to bolster development efforts for its Qwen artificial intelligence models, in an internal restructuring that has seen the departure of previous technical lead Lin Junyang. While no successor to Lin was announced, former Google senior staff research scientist Zhou Hao was joining Alibaba as head of post-training research, replacing Yu Bowen, who also departed this week, two sources said. Zhou, who holds a PhD from the......

Air freight costs for China-reliant shippers may rise by up to 30 per cent due to the suspension of Middle East air routes triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran, a Hong Kong-based logistics association said. The Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding & Logistics made the estimate based on “market feedback” since the strikes began on Saturday, the trade group told the South China Morning Post in an emailed statement. Most of the group's 303 corporate members operate in mainland......

Fewer Hongkongers withdrew funds from the city's mandatory pension plan in the fourth quarter of last year, as a stock market rally prompted more members to leave their investments in place even when they stopped working or left the city, according to analysts. The number of people taking their money out of the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) because they were leaving Hong Kong permanently fell 39 per cent in the final three months of 2025 from the previous quarter, to 4,200 cases, according to......

Wang Jian, a prominent Chinese artificial intelligence scholar and director at Zhejiang Lab, said China had both the “resources and responsibility” to make AI more accessible globally at a time when other countries, such as the US, were increasingly acting in their own interests. Speaking to the South China Morning Post on Wednesday on the sidelines of China's annual annual legislative “two sessions” meetings in Beijing, Wang said the world remained far from the goal of turning AI into an......

The founder and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) said his company plans to ramp up the use of artificial intelligence in research and take Chinese battery technology and standards further overseas, as the battery giant maps the next phase of growth. The world's largest maker of electric vehicle (EV) batteries would step up research and development spending and apply more AI methods to strengthen its technological edge, said billionaire Robin Zeng Yuqun at a briefing on......

The pace and size of outlicensing deals between Chinese drug makers and global partners have accelerated this year, highlighted by two agreements announced this week, each worth more than US$1 billion. The string of deals shows how China is becoming a sought-after source of drug candidates for multinational pharmaceutical companies, which are increasingly looking for long-term partnerships rather than one-off arrangements, analysts said. The latest deals, Sino Biopharmaceutical's agreement with......

Technology stocks across China, South Korea and Japan have taken a beating as risk-off sentiment sweeps markets, with the escalating US-Iran war sending shock waves through global energy and logistics networks. Hong Kong and Chinese tech stocks have been affected to a lesser degree than their Korean and Japanese peers because of the different levels of exposure to energy and shipping disruptions caused by the Middle East turmoil, analysts said. In Seoul, the Kospi index sank over 12 per cent on......

Singapore is the most expensive city in Asia-Pacific to outfit an office, driven by increased labour costs, a shortage of contractors and strict building standards, according to real estate consultancy Knight Frank. The city had the highest average fit-out cost at US$2,029 per square metre – ahead of Tokyo (US$1,994) and Taipei (US$1,593) – in the firm's survey of 23 cities across Australasia, East Asia, Southeast Asia and India. It was also the most expensive place to set up an office......

China's sovereign debt is emerging as a strategic alternative to US Treasuries as global investors look for geopolitical hedges, though greater market liquidity and deeper yuan internationalisation are still needed to cement its status as a global safe haven, an economist at a Chinese government think tank has said. “[These bonds] circumvent the restrictions of the non-convertibility of the renminbi,” said Xu Qiyuan, deputy director of the American Studies Institute at the Chinese Academy of......

The fallout from surging oil prices has rippled across global asset classes, from stocks to bonds, as escalating military tensions in the Middle East reset investors' expectations for inflation and the path of central bank policy. As US military strikes against Iran intensified, Brent crude traded near a two-year high of US$82.98 a barrel, while futures in New York touched US$75.75, a level not seen since January 2025. The spike in energy costs has revived fears of a renewed bout of inflation,......

We have put together stories from our coverage on electric and new energy vehicles from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Low-cost models dominate China EV sales, surpassing Tesla and BYD Amid intensifying competition among Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) makers last year, relatively inexpensive models from Geely Auto and Wuling Motor Holdings topped the sales chart, surpassing cars from BYD and Tesla. 2.......

With hundreds of millions of people turning to chatbots for advice, it was only a matter of time before tech companies began offering programs specifically designed to answer health questions. In January, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health, a new version of its chatbot that the company says can analyse users' medical records, wellness apps and wearable device data to answer health and medical questions. Currently, there is a waiting list for the program. Anthropic, a rival AI company, offers......

With major Persian Gulf aviation hubs largely paralysed by airspace closures amid the escalating conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran, travellers have flocked to direct Asia-Europe routes, driving a sharp surge in airfares. This week, economy class on most direct one-way Beijing-Paris flights is fully booked, with a small number of economy seats – plus premium economy and business class seats – remaining. Economy seats on an Air China flight on Sunday are already booked out, with a one-way......

China's tech leaders, including Xiaomi's Lei Jun, 360 Security Technology's Zhou Hongyi and Xpeng's He Xiaopeng, have put forward policy proposals ahead of the “two sessions”, as Beijing seeks to accelerate development in strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence and robotics. The executives aim to promote the industrial use of humanoid robots, speed up the deployment of AI agents and expand computing infrastructure – areas increasingly viewed as key battlegrounds in the global......

McDonald's has sold another Hong Kong retail property for HK$93.5 million (US$11.9 million), extending its asset sell-down and bringing total proceeds to about HK$580 million. The ground-floor unit at Mount Sterling Mall in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Lai Chi Kok, was sold on February 27 to Huge Power (China) Ltd., according to Land Registry records. Companies Registry filings show the directors as Kwok Chong-wah, Kwok Lap-yin and Kwok Shun-sing, members of a veteran investor family. The 6,915 square......

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma and the core leadership of Alibaba Group Holding and Ant Group spent over an hour with teachers in Hangzhou on Tuesday, discussing the profound challenges and opportunities brought about by artificial intelligence. Ma told the group that the impact of AI was “immense”, but so were the “opportunities” and that teenagers held the greatest hope and opportunity for adapting to and enabling transformation in the AI era, according to a statement issued by Hangzhou Yungu......

Hong Kong stocks fell to a six-month low on Wednesday, as surging oil prices fuelled bets that rising energy costs would stoke inflation and increase the risk of a global slowdown. The Hang Seng Index sank 1.6 per cent to 25,357.16 as of 9.47am local time. The Hang Seng Tech Index lost 0.2 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both retreated 0.8 per cent. Brent oil jumped 1.3 per cent to US$82.46 a barrel and the futures contract for Nymex crude trading in......

Investors are watching Beijing's annual “two sessions” this week for signs that the country will address drug pricing and shore up its drug payment system, as a new form of insurance introduced in January for expensive, innovative treatments struggles to gain traction. Near-term policy impact on the sector was likely to be limited, analysts said ahead of the annual meetings of China's top legislature and political advisory body, which begin in Beijing on Wednesday. “We are not expecting much......

Ahead of China's annual legislative meetings – typically a window into Beijing's top-level policy agenda – this is the seventh entry in a series examining the complex economic recalibration driving China's growth philosophy and its wide-ranging implications for local governments, financial investors and private enterprises. Investors and policy watchers will be looking to this week's meetings of China's national legislature and top political advisory body – also known as the “two sessions” – for......