SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Allegations of fraud and accounting irregularities at Chinese companies are likely to continue for at least the near term and the accusations may hamper the firms’ access to funds regardless of the claims’ merit, Fitch Ratings said.

A string of fraud allegations against Chinese companies listed in North America, often made by investors shorting the stock involved, has sparked a sell-off in China-related equities.

This negative investor sentiment may continue in the short term as many Chinese companies are now being identified as having weak accounting or corporate governance standards, Fitch said in a report on corporate governance on Monday.

“Overseas investors are now undertaking the job that China’s under-developed capital market has hitherto struggled to address – challenging Chinese corporate management to adopt higher international standards,” said John Hatton, Fitch’s group credit officer for Asia-Pacific companies.

Fitch’s study follows a report from Moody’s Investors Service last week which raised similar concerns about 49 Chinese companies and triggered a fall in many of their share prices.

SIGNS OF WEAKNESS

Fitch said an analysis of its portfolio of 35 Chinese companies, which mainly have credit ratings below investment grade, highlighted a number of different criteria that may point to weak corporate governance or mask problems in their financial controls.

SINGAPORE, July 18 (Reuters) – Allegations of fraud and accounting irregularities at Chinese companies are likely to continue for at least the near term and the accusations may hamper the firms’ access to funds regardless of the claims’ merit, Fitch Ratings said.

A string of fraud allegations against Chinese companies listed in North America, often made by investors shorting the stock involved, has sparked a sell-off in China-related equities.

This negative investor sentiment may continue in the short term as many Chinese companies are now being identified as having weak accounting or corporate governance standards, Fitch said in a report on corporate governance on Monday.

“Overseas investors are now undertaking the job that China’s under-developed capital market has hitherto struggled to address - challenging Chinese corporate management to adopt higher international standards,” said John Hatton, Fitch’s group credit officer for Asia-Pacific companies.

Fitch’s study follows a report from Moody’s Investors Service last week which raised similar concerns about 49 Chinese companies and triggered a fall in many of their share prices. .

SIGNS OF WEAKNESS

Fitch said an analysis of its portfolio of 35 Chinese companies, which mainly have credit ratings below investment grade, highlighted a number of different criteria that may point to weak corporate governance or mask problems in their financial controls.

SINGAPORE, July 14 (Reuters) – Singapore’s Lion Global Investors, which manages about S$29 billion ($24 billion), said on Thursday it was turning bullish on Indian stocks and Wednesday’s bomb attacks in the country’s financial capital would not change its view.

Like many investors, Lion Global has been underweight India for several months on concerns about rising inflation and the recent corruption scandals affecting the government.

“In particular the real estate sector has been aggressively underrated… We feel that many of these concerns are now overdone given the extent of the correction and as such have selectively been adding to our positions,” CIO Simon Flood told Reuters in an email.

He added that Wednesday’s three bomb blasts that killed 18 people in Mumbai, the biggest attack since Pakistani-based militants rampaged through parts of the city in 2008, did not change the Singapore asset manager’s view on India.

Lion Global recently increased its holdings in India’s largest real estate company DLF and Prestige Estates , a developer that is active in and around Bangalore.

According to the latest monthly report for Lion Global’s India equities fund, which covered through end-May, the fund’s top India holdings include energy-focused conglomerate Reliance Industries , technology giant Infosys and ICICI Bank .

The India fund lost about 10 percent in the five months to May 31, in line with the fall in the MSCI India index which is its benchmark.

SINGAPORE, June 28 (Reuters) – Singapore said on Tuesday it will make its banks hold higher capital levels than those set out under the new Basel III regulations, imposing some of the toughest new banking rules unveiled so far across the globe.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) intends to make its local banks hold a higher level of top quality capital as a proportion of their risk-weighted assets than was agreed on by banking regulators in Basel.

Under the new rules, banks will have to hold a common equity tier one ratio — which is retained earnings or shares — of 6.5 percent as well as a conservation buffer of 2.5 percent, making a total requirement of 9.0 percent. That is two percentage points above the Basel III rules which requires banks to hold a total of 7.0 percent in top quality capital.

“We must maintain the high standards of financial regulations which have become associated with Singapore,” Lim Hng Kiang, minister for trade and industry and deputy chairman of the MAS, said in a speech.

The Basel III rules were drawn up following the financial crisis to ensure banks were better positioned to withstand unexpected losses. Singapore tends to set particularly strict requirements for its banks given their systemic importance to its domestic economy and the fact that they cater to a large proportion of its retail banking market.

“Our financial sector has weathered several crises well. But we cannot take this for granted,” said Lim.

However the city state’s three domestic banks — DBS , Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and United Overseas Bank — along with Citigroup’s subsidiary Citi Singapore are unlikely to have to raise any new capital to meet the new rules.

SINGAPORE, Jun 28 (Reuters) – Non-performing loans (NPLs) at Chinese banks could rise to be worth 5 percent of total lending from around 1 percent currently, but will not affect their credit ratings, Moody’s Investors Service said on Tuesday.

Soured loans for local government projects and the real estate sector are the main culprits for the expected rise in NPL ratios in the world’s second largest economy, but they will unlikely result in systemic problems for China.

The rating agency did not give a time-frame as to when the rate could hit 5 percent.

“Up to about 4-5 percent NPLs is consistent with our ratings and stable outlook (for Chinese banks). If it starts rising beyond that, then that might lead to downgrades to our financial strength ratings,” Stephen Long, Moody’s managing director for Asian financial institutions, told reporters.

“On the sovereign side. We have a positive outlook right now. That would imply there is quite a lot of buffer in the sovereign rating for China,” he added.

Moody’s currently rates China at Aa3 with a positive outlook, which means the rating was fairly resilient even if China’s central government took on the liabilities of local governments that have been a concern of investors.

Long’s comments came a day after China released a comprehensive review of the massive debt of its local governments and curtailed their future borrowing.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore is benefiting from a shortage of office space in Hong Kong as multinational companies expanding in Asia turn increasingly to the Southeast Asian city-state for their regional bases, property developers and consultants said.

They said that while rents are soaring in both cities, there is a much larger supply of new office developments coming up in Singapore to cater to the growing demand. In contrast, firms wishing to expand in Hong Kong will either have to outbid other prospective tenants or move out of the city center.

“Unlike Singapore, Hong Kong has not managed its land supply well. Vacancies are very low in Hong Kong and rents are rising,” Simon Treacy, Group Chief Executive of property fund manager MGPA, told the Thomson Reuters Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit.

“Some international banks will more actively consider Singapore as the area where they’ll expand so on a net-net basis, Singapore’s growth will outpace Hong Kong,” he added.

Office rents in Hong Kong rose 37 percent to $90 per square foot a year in the first quarter of 2011 from a year ago, outpacing the 28 percent rise in Singapore where rents now stand at S$82 per square foot, according to property services firm CB Richard Ellis.

Rents in Hong Kong’s core Central area jumped 40 percent to $186 per square foot, making the area far costlier than inner Tokyo’s $124 per square foot, CBRE added.

And unlike in Singapore where over 3 million square feet of office space is expected to come onto the market this year, Hong Kong’s supply will rise by a much smaller 1.3 million square feet with virtually no new space in the Central area.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Property investment firm MGPA has a warchest of more than $1 billion to invest in new Asian and European property and sees Tokyo offices as one of its top picks, Group CEO Simon Treacy said on Wednesday.

But the firm, 56 percent owned by Australia’s Macquarie (MQG.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), is wary of Hong Kong where it believes the office property market is set for a major correction as China’s economy slows and U.S. interest rates begin to rise.

“We think Hong Kong is a bubble looking for a pin and that it could represent a great buying opportunity in 18 months’ time once China continues to slow down and goes through a soft landing and interest rates go up in the U.S.,” Treacy told the Thomson Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit.

“Hong Kong’s property market will go through a major correction next year sometime,” said Treacy, whose firm currently has about $11 billion in real estate.

Hong Kong office rents rose 37 percent in the first quarter of 2011 from a year ago, while rents in inner Tokyo fell 4.7 percent over the same period, according to property services firm CB Richard Ellis.

Office rents in the former British colony are the highest in Asia at $186 per square foot a year, compared with $124 in inner Tokyo and $82 in Singapore, where rents rose at a slower pace of 28 percent, according to the firm.

Treacy is confident, however, that Japan’s economy is poised for a rapid recovery, following the 2007/2008 financial crisis which hurt exporters and the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Property investment firm MGPA has a warchest of more than $1 billion to invest in new Asian and European property and sees Tokyo offices as one of its top picks, Group CEO Simon Treacy said on Wednesday.

But the firm, 56 percent owned by Australia’s Macquarie (MQG.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), is wary of Hong Kong where it believes the office property market is set for a major correction as China’s economy slows and U.S. interest rates begin to rise.

“We think Hong Kong is a bubble looking for a pin and that it could represent a great buying opportunity in 18 months’ time once China continues to slow down and goes through a soft landing and interest rates go up in the U.S.,” Treacy told the Thomson Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit.

“Hong Kong’s property market will go through a major correction next year sometime,” said Treacy, whose firm currently has about $11 billion in real estate.

Hong Kong office rents rose 37 percent in the first quarter of 2011 from a year ago, while rents in inner Tokyo fell 4.7 percent over the same period, according to property services firm CB Richard Ellis.

Office rents in the former British colony are the highest in Asia at $186 per square foot a year, compared with $124 in inner Tokyo and $82 in Singapore, where rents rose at a slower pace of 28 percent, according to the firm.

Treacy is confident, however, that Japan’s economy is poised for a rapid recovery, following the 2007/2008 financial crisis which hurt exporters and the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Property investment firm MGPA has a warchest of more than $1 billion to invest in new Asian and European property and sees Tokyo offices as one of its top picks, Group CEO Simon Treacy said on Wednesday.

But the firm, 56 percent owned by Australia’s Macquarie (MQG.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), is wary of Hong Kong where it believes the office property market is set for a major correction as China’s economy slows and U.S. interest rates begin to rise.

“We think Hong Kong is a bubble looking for a pin and that it could represent a great buying opportunity in 18 months’ time once China continues to slow down and goes through a soft landing and interest rates go up in the U.S.,” Treacy told the Thomson Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit.

“Hong Kong’s property market will go through a major correction next year sometime,” said Treacy, whose firm currently has about $11 billion in real estate.

Hong Kong office rents rose 37 percent in the first quarter of 2011 from a year ago, while rents in inner Tokyo fell 4.7 percent over the same period, according to property services firm CB Richard Ellis.

Office rents in the former British colony are the highest in Asia at $186 per square foot a year, compared with $124 in inner Tokyo and $82 in Singapore, where rents rose at a slower pace of 28 percent, according to the firm.

Treacy is confident, however, that Japan’s economy is poised for a rapid recovery, following the 2007/2008 financial crisis which hurt exporters and the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore-listed Treasury China Trust (TRCT.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (TCT) is on the lookout for commercial real estate acquisitions in China and sees malls as the most promising area to be in, chief executive Richard David said.

“We certainly have excess capacity in our platform to take on new opportunities and that’s our focus over the next 12-18 months,” David told the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit on Tuesday.

David said he was not concerned about the measures taken by the Chinese government to rein in credit and clamp down on property speculation to stem rising prices, noting China’s rulers had steered the economy through periods of higher inflation in the past.

“In 2007, we had inflation much higher than it is today, we had interest rates much higher than it is today,” he said.

“I’ve been in China 12 years and this is my fourth set of austerity measures.”

The recent slowdown in Chinese growth was mainly due to the government “doing the responsible thing of winding down” the stimulus program that it put in place at the onset of the global financial crisis, he said.

TCT, which is structured as a business trust, owns and manages about 12 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) worth of commercial real estate in China.