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Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider, has appointed Worachat Luxkanalode as the new chief executive of payments platform 2C2P. Mr Worachat assumes the role in April 2025, subject to regulatory approval. In his role, Mr Worachat will oversee the overall business strategy and operations of 2C2P, spearheading the company’s strategic upgrade from mainly serving enterprise customers to businesses of all sizes, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Southeast Asia. 2C2P is part of Antom, Ant International’s global payment and digitisation solutions provider, serving leading players in travel, online retail, entertainment and more. According to Gary Liu, general manager of Antom, Mr Worachat is a fintech veteran with proven experience in payments, digital banking, and driving sustainable business growth. Mr Worachat is currently with Southeast Asia’s leading super-app Grab, serving as managing director of Grab Thailand. He joined in 2019 and held several roles, including country head of Grab Financial Group for Thailand, and executive director of Grab Thailand. Before joining Grab, he held senior executive positions at leading Thai and international banks and financial institutions for 17 years, and is among the pioneers of digital banking in Thailand. Mr Worachat said that as 2C2P continues to strengthen its position in Southeast Asia’s payments landscape, his focus will be on driving a strategic transition to better serve regional SMEs alongside its enterprise customers by standing on the strong foundation built by 2C2P’s current leadership, especially visionary founder Aung Kyaw Moe. Recently Grab announced the appointment of Chantsuda Thananitayaudom as country head of Grab Thailand, effective as of April 1, 2025, succeeding Mr Worachat. Ms Chantsuda joined Grab in 2018 as the country marketing head for Grab Thailand.–BANGKOKPOST

HSBC Holdings has assigned additional responsibilities to country heads in some smaller Asian markets as part of its efforts to streamline operations and eliminate management layers. According to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News, Peter Kim will take on the role of head of banking alongside his position as chief executive officer in Korea, effective March 1. Similarly, Tim Evans will hold both roles in Vietnam. A spokesperson for HSBC confirmed the contents of the memo. “The changes will create a simple organisation that will be better placed to deliver best-in-class service to our customers and are designed to accelerate the execution of our strategic objectives,” the spokesperson stated. In Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand, Omar Siddiq, Adam Chen, and Giorgio Gamba will assume dual roles. However, some commercial and global banking staff applied for new positions but were not selected, according to sources familiar with the matter. HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery, who took over last year, has been implementing significant changes to reduce costs, complexity, and job redundancy. Under his leadership, the bank has merged its commercial banking division with its global banking and markets unit and has scaled back some investment banking operations in Europe and the Americas. Late last year, HSBC required hundreds of managers to reapply for positions within its newly formed corporate and institutional banking division. The bank is also discontinuing the use of the “general manager” title for some senior staff, instead adopting “managing director,” a title more commonly used in major financial institutions, sources said. The memo also revealed that HSBC will appoint a new head of banking, international markets, to oversee operations in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mauritius, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. For its “priority markets” of China, India, and Singapore, the bank has named Zhenyi Tang, Ajay Sharma, and Gilbert Ng as heads of banking

ANA, Japan’s largest airline, will spend copy4.5 billion to buy 77 aircraft from Boeing, Airbus and Embraer in a rare simultaneous deal with the world’s top three commercial planemakers. The procurement plan includes at least 18 widebody 787-9 Dreamliners and 12 737-8 Max single-aisle jets from Boeing, All Nippon Airways Co Ltd said on Tuesday. The carrier will also add 27 Airbus A321neo jets, including three of the XLR longest-range single-aisle planes, and 20 E190-E2 regional jets from Brazil’s Embraer, it said. The airline exercised options for a further 10 737-8 Max jets and five 787-9 widebodies — planes ordered in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and costing about copy.9 billion — taking the overall order to 92 aircraft. Airlines typically receive large discounts for substantial purchases. “This order will be the catalyst for improving the profitability of domestic flights and the expansion of international flights which is an area of future growth of our airline business,” ANA chief executive officer Koji Shibata said in a statement. The jets are set to be delivered between 2028 and 2032. The deal includes firm orders and some options. The purchase underscores ANA’s ambitions to exceed its pre-pandemic fleet size by 2030 and capitalise on the boom in global air travel demand. Shinichi Inoue, chief executive officer of the group’s flagship airline ANA, said last year that the carrier was considering further purchases of large aircraft as planemakers run out of slots to build jets into the end of the decade. The carrier is also looking to replace its fleet of older Boeing 767s, a midsize widebody no longer being made for passenger use, and its remaining 737s. ANA’s order gives a much-needed boost for Boeing from one of its best customers as the planemaker tries to shake off a tumultuous period that’s included management upheaval and delivery delays after a near-catastrophic 737 Max door blowout triggered regulatory scrutiny. Boeing has also been on the back foot in Asia, where it has come second place in a series of key sales campaigns including for Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan Airlines and Eva Airways. However it has recently picked up momentum, securing deals with China Airlines and Thai Airways International. But the simultaneous purchase of Airbus and Embraer jets as well signals ANA’s need to expand its procurement at a time when planemakers are in high demand — and it is unusual for an airline to purchase from the three aircraft manufacturers at the same time. ANA was the launch customer of the Boeing 787 and is the largest global operator, with 86 of the type in fleet and a further 10 on order. ANA also has 18 777-9s and 20 737 Max single-aisle jets yet to be delivered. The carrier has a fleet of around 240 mostly Boeing-made aircraft and controls the budget carrier Peach Aviation, which has an all-Airbus fleet of 37 single-aisle jets.–BANGKOKPOST

KUALA LUMPUR: Palm oil’s share of India’s annual edible oil imports is set to drop below soft oils for the first time as its rising premium over soyoil and sunflower oil pushes refiners toward more affordable alternatives, the head of an industry body said. Lower palm oil imports by India, the world’s biggest buyer of vegetable oils, could weigh on benchmark Malaysian palm oil prices and support US soyoil futures. “Palm oil is getting pricey due to supply issues, so buyers are naturally shifting to soyoil and sunflower oil instead,” said Sanjeev Asthana, president of the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India (SEA), in an interview with Reuters. “The country’s palm oil imports in the 2024/2025 marketing year ending in October 2025 could fall to as low as 7.5 million metric tonnes, the lowest in five years,” said Asthana, who is also the CEO of Patanjali Foods Ltd. “Palm oil is losing market share to soft oils, which are projected to account for a slightly larger volume of imports,” he said. Palm oil accounted for 56% of India’s total edible oil imports in the last marketing year, but in the first three months of the current year its share fell to 43%, the SEA data showed. Palm oil has been trading at a premium over rival oils for the past few months as supplies from top producers Indonesia and Malaysia were affected by floods at a time when Jakarta has also moved to increase the tropical oil’s use in biodiesel. “The current premium for palm oil is not sustainable, and once it begins trading at a discount, likely within two months, Indian buyers will increase their imports,” Asthana said. “Soyoil imports in the current year could increase by 1 million to 1.5 million tonnes from last year’s 3.4 million tonnes, while sunflower oil imports may rise slightly from last year’s record level of 3.5 million tonnes,” he said. India meets nearly two-thirds of its vegetable oil demand through foreign sourcing. It buys palm oil from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while soyoil and sunoil come from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine. “The rising availability of local oils, which will help fulfill incremental demand, is expected to keep the country’s total edible oil imports steady at around 16 million tonnes this year,” Asthana said.–REUTERS

HONG KONG: Hong Kong will launch a new channel on the stock exchange designed to expedite listings of tech companies, the latest move by the fundraising hub to boost attractiveness amid rising appetite of Chinese companies to raise funds offshore. Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) is to establish a dedicated “technology enterprises channel”, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on Wednesday (Feb 26). The channel will facilitate specialist technology and biotechnology companies’ listings in Hong Kong, particularly those already listed in the mainland, Chan said while delivering his 2025-26 budget. The market’s watchdog Securities and Futures Commission is working with the exchange to enable a smoother application process, he added. The announcement comes as Chinese companies, mainly those in the tech sector, accelerate plans to raise funds offshore, tapping into a rebound in investor sentiment fuelled by hopes of Beijing’s support for private firms and the popularity of DeepSeek. Regulators in mainland China and Hong Kong have told some of the world’s biggest investment banks to help speed up Chinese companies’ listings in the city, Reuters reported in December citing sources. The city exchange officials urged bankers during meetings in October to identify bottlenecks in the listing application process of Chinese firms and share specific examples, sources said at that time. The city bourse reports it’s full year earnings on Thursday.–REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia secured record investments of RM378.5 billion last year, an increase of 14.9% from the approved investments in 2023, investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said. Tengku Zafrul said last year’s investments involved 6,700 projects and led to the creation of 207,241 new jobs. “The services sector contributed RM252.7 billion while the manufacturing and primary sector contributed RM120.5 billion and RM5.3 billion respectively,” he said in his announcement at the Malaysian Investment Development Authority office at KL Sentral. He said domestic investments stood at RM208.1 billion and foreign investments at RM170.4 billion. Tengku Zafrul said the government projected a 5% growth this year from 2024’s performance, with geopolitical uncertainty expected to be the main challenge. However, he said some sectors, notably the electrical and electronic sector, were expected to continue thriving. Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia would be securing investments from countries like Brazil in the aerospace and semiconductor sector, as well as Turkey in the automotive sector. Separately, Tengku Zafrul said he and digital minister Gobind Singh Deo would co-chair the newly established data centre task force. “There are some concerns about the data centres that we need to address and mitigate. We will come back and report the decisions,” he said without going into further detail.