TOKYO – The latest news from London isn’t going down well in Tokyo financial circles.
The inclusion of Chinese sovereign bonds in the FTSE Russell’s flagship World Government Bond Index had long been expected. But this week’s confirmation of that tectonic shift – and news that China will have the sixth-largest weighting – came just as Tokyo thought its moment back in the financial spotlight had finally arrived.
Japan’s “London of the East” dream just had a serious boost as the Tokyo Stock Exchange scored an initial public offering (IPO) by high-profile Taiwanese startup Appier. That’s at least how Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike refers to what she views as Japan’s rightful place in the Asian pecking order.
The metropolis she runs has as many Fortune 500 companies as you’ll find anywhere, a top-three currency, some of the biggest and deepest markets, world-beating infrastructure and an asset management industry underpinned by one of the largest stockpiles of household savings.
