Yamaha fear losing champion Rossi to Ferrari

ROME // Yamaha are concerned they could lose Valentino Rossi to Formula One after the MotoGP world champion clocked good times in tests this week for Ferrari. "I have to be worried about these excellent times because Valentino really could get the desire to change sport," the Yamaha team manager Davide Brivio told Saturday's La Gazzetta dello Sport. "The greatest danger is Ferrari (not MotoGP rivals Ducati)."

Ferrari have previously tried to recruit Rossi, whose contract with Yamaha expires at the end of this season. The Italian Rossi completed more than 600km behind the wheel at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain and had a best time of 1min 21.900secs, compared to the current F1 world champion Jenson Button's time of 1min 20.527secs in his McLaren. * Reuters

Virtual banks explained

What is a virtual bank?

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.

What’s the draw in Asia?

Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.

Is Hong Kong short of banks?

No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year.