Corporate bits | Dear Jane to perform at the Venetian

Dear Jane, who are due to perform at the Venitian Macao on July 15, found popularity on the back of albums including “100”, “XOXO”, “GAMMA”, “Yellow Fever!” and “Dear Jane (Special Edition)”, along with sold- out concerts and three well- received singles released last year.

They have also built up a substantial online presence with millions of hits on YouTube and acclaimed music videos, as cited in a statement issued by Sands China.

Formed back in 2003, the band comprises of Tim Wong on lead vocals, Jackal Ng on bass guitar, guitarist Howie Yung and drummer Nice Lai.

For  their band’s first ever Macau appearance, they will perform the famous love story trilogy “You & Me”, “Lost”, “Days Gone By” and the classic “Do Not Speak” from “XOXO”, among other hit songs.

Tickets will be on sale from today at all Cotai Ticketing box offices.

HSBC makes ‘big bet’ on Canada

HSBC Holdings Plc is getting aggressive in Canada – and one needs to look no further than its latest mortgage rate for proof of broader ambitions. HSBC Canada is offering five-year fixed-term mortgages at 2.39 percent, undercutting the lowest discretionary rates at the largest domestic lenders including Toronto-Dominion Bank and Royal Bank of Canada.

“I want to be more competitive,” Sandra Stuart, chief executive officer of the Canadian unit of London-based HSBC, said in an interview from her Vancouver office. “I will never be as big as the Big Five, but I certainly want to have our share of market, and I want to be out there with good competitive products.”

“HSBC globally is making a big bet on Canada, and they’re investing in us to do that,” Stuart said. “There’s a handful of priority markets that are going to get continued investment and our job is to develop the strategy, to execute and of course deliver the returns.”

HSBC has been in Canada since 1981, expanding through takeovers of domestic lenders and the Canadian operations of foreign banks to become the seventh-largest lender in the nation with CAD95.7 billion (USD71 billion) in assets.