Author: Jordan

New loans down by more than 50% Combines lending and supply Aims to help first-time buyers Saudi Arabia has launched a programme to help first-time buyers get mortgages, after new home loans fell by more than half over the past year, jeopardising the kingdom’s 2030 homeownership target. The scheme was launched by the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) in partnership with Saudi National Bank (SNB) and the National Housing Company (NHC). The bank will provide mortgages backed by the development fund, while the NHC supplies homes in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Monthly instalments start from SAR699 ($186). REDF chief executive…

US asset manager Churchill Asset Management and Temasek’s main asset management platform Seviora Holdings have closed a collateralised fund obligation (CFO) at approximately $400m (£298.4m) that will invest across US and Asian private capital strategies. The CFO provides institutional investors with diversified exposure across sponsors, investment strategies and geographies by investing across Churchill’s US junior capital and private equity secondaries strategies and Seviora’s Asian private credit and global fund-of-funds strategies. Read more: Churchill raises $13.6bn in record 2025 With 50 per cent exposure to each of the two platforms, the CFO aims to meet investor objectives, including credit exposure, yield…

Super Sandwich Games LLC dropped the official gameplay trailer for Soup’s Tail yesterday, giving PC players their first real look at one of the most quietly ambitious narrative indie games currently heading to Steam. The single-player title asks a question most games refuse to sit with: what does it mean to be dead? And it answers it, at least in part, by sitting you down across from the residents of the afterlife and dealing a hand of cards.Soup’s Tail Gameplay Trailer Shows an Afterlife Built Around Card-Table EncountersThe Soup’s Tail gameplay trailer, now available on YouTube, establishes the game’s premise…

Join us at Annual Japan Investors Forum Japan’s $1.8T Government Pension Investment Fund has promoted Kijima Kozo to head of real estate from co-head and senior director of real estate, according to his LinkedIn profile. Visit us at ALTSSG Singapore | October 22, 2026 Kozo joined GPIF in January 2018, joining as a director on its real estate and alternative investment team then was promoted to senior director and co-head of the team in December 2024. He then moved into heading up the portfolio in July 2026. Before joining GPIF, Kozo spent nearly six years as senior manager at Sumitomo…

Investing.com — Citi Research downgraded UK equities to “underweight” from “overweight” rating, citing the market’s defensive and commodity-heavy composition as a liability in an environment where earnings growth and market leadership are broadening. The strategists said the UK had served as a “geopolitical hedge” within equity portfolios during the Iran conflict, but with geopolitical tensions abating, that rationale has faded. “Although valuations remain attractive, the market’s defensive and commodity-heavy composition is less appealing in an environment where earnings growth and market leadership are broadening,” the strategists said. “We continue to favour more Cyclical opportunities elsewhere.” The currently trades at 12.2…

Japan is preparing to significantly increase the share of private equity, real estate and other alternative assets held by the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), according to a Nikkei report, marking another step in the government’s effort to reshape the investment strategy of the world’s largest pension fund. The planned shift comes as Tokyo seeks to modernize the management of Japan’s public retirement savings, diversify returns beyond traditional stocks and bonds, and strengthen domestic capital markets. It also follows comments from Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama indicating the government wants GPIF and other state pension funds to substantially increase their exposure…

Finance Committee member Jamal Kochar says Iraq’s liquidity crisis, declining revenues, and rising domestic debt reflect decades of governance failures, as Baghdad advances new fiscal reforms to stabilize public finances. ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Iraq’s latest financial difficulties are not the result of a shortage of natural wealth, but of decades of political mismanagement, according to Jamal Kochar, a member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Finance Committee, who argues that the country’s economic vulnerabilities reflect deep-rooted governance failures rather than limited resources. Speaking to Kurdistan24 on Monday, Kochar described Iraq as a country endowed with exceptional economic potential that has struggled to…

Original author: Monday, Shenchao TechFlowDeepInsight Summary: BlackRock’s latest report directly compares the current AI bull market to the 1990s internet bubble: U.S. tech stocks rose a cumulative 1,097% between 1993 and 1999, while AI-related stocks have gained 569% since 2019—half the previous surge. However, the S&P 500’s Shiller P/E ratio has returned to 40, matching the peak of the 2000 bubble, and tech stocks now account for over 37.5% of the U.S. market capitalization, surpassing their weight during the internet bubble.BlackRock’s conclusion is that AI is not a bubble, provided that profit growth materializes.In its latest weekly commentary released on…

Manchester has overtaken London as the number one location for buy-to-let investors.  The Property Buying Company data reveals that around 23% of investors are searching for property in Manchester, outpacing the 18% who look towards the capital for their next investment.  The top five most in-demand cities for investors are Manchester at 23%, London at 18%, Liverpool at 8%, and Birmingham at 7%. This further highlights Manchester’s ability to provide stable, long-term investment opportunities for both UK and international investors thanks to its thriving business sector and city centre population boom.  Why is buy-to-rent so popular in Manchester? While average…

L&T Finance expects loan growth to remain above 20% if economic conditions improve, while its investments in artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to reduce credit costs and improve operating efficiency over the next few years, Managing Director and CEO Sudipta Roy said.Roy also said the lender expects credit costs to continue declining, supported by AI-led underwriting and collections, while operating expenses could improve by 30-40 basis points over the next three to four years. The company reported stable yields during the April-June 2026 quarter, although higher funding costs reduced net interest margins by 25 basis points. Roy said the impact…