Category: Uncategorized
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Reassessing Macro Economic Trends – What’s Next?
We are fast approaching Labour Day long weekend, the May Day holiday for the rest of the world except for America which celebrates it in Sep. We are almost into the mid-year mark and it’s time to review and reassess the macro sentiment for the latter part of 2023. By identifying possible macro trends ahead,…
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Ikigai – A Purposeful Life, Anger Management – Fox & Guns
I was introduced to the concept of Ikigai a few years ago by the founder of a local consultancy firm who believed that this Japanese teaching transcends into one’s reason for being. It provides a roadmap to a long and happy life by providing steps to help an individual unlock and discover his purpose in…
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The Advent of AI – Part Deux
A personal observation of the advent of AI (Artificial Intelligence) since my previous write-up in Feb: https://medium.com/@checkwoei/the-advent-of-ai-chatgpt-and-others-exploring-the-next-frontier-1bce9144aedf ChatGPT was only introduced to the world less than 5 months ago and the pace has accelerated exponentially in this short period. Many new inventive uses are being discovered and completed AI products are appearing on social media…
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Is Traditional Banking Obsolete After Recent SVB-Like Bank Failures?
This is what traditional banks have been doing for hundreds of years: They collect deposits from mom-and-pop types of customers who normally use only one bank for all their financial needs. These funds are mostly CASA (Current Account, Savings Account) deposits and are relatively sticky, meaning that they do not leave the bank very easily…
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Art of War (China Style) – Strategic Moves Ahead
China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, having a continuous recorded history of about 4,000 years. Other than the period of time when the Mongols took over China and started their global conquest, China had historically remained relatively peaceful and non-expansionist except for periodic short skirmishes with neighbouring countries like Vietnam, Korea…
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The Credit Suisse Collapse and the Ongoing AT1 Bonds Fiasco
The recent bank run has claimed several scalps in the banking world and the biggest one was Credit Suisse (CS). After 166 years of operation, this prestigious name is no more. Its dramatic collapse happened within days after the SNB (Swiss National Bank) central bank forced UBS to take over CS at a fraction of…
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SVB’ed – A Chaotic Week and More to Come?
The financial world was in turmoil for the last 10 days as one bank after another fell off the chair in a domino effect. First, it was Silvergate, then Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and First Republic Bank, followed by Signature Bank and then Credit Suisse. Naysayers were predicting the Great Finance Crisis (GFC) of 2008…
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My Recent HK trip – A Personal Reflection
Recently, I had a chance to revisit Hong Kong after more than 5 years. My last trip was in Feb 2017 for my previous banking job. My wife was also on a business trip this time and I tagged along for the free accommodation plus we decided to also add a weekend extension for a…