Possibly a slightly controversial one in MoneyWeek Asia this time: Investing in Burma.

Well, I’m not actually talking about investing yet but it’s worth keeping a eye on this. There are some tentative signs that recent political developments aren’t a complete sham and that reform could happen.

Obviously, we need to hope conditions change for the sake of the long-suffering population. If they, this is potentially a very significant country and economy in Southeast Asia.

Burma has a population of 60 million, relatively young and reasonably well-educated for its level of development, together with substantial natural resources and helpful geography. While it’s starting from a very low point, it has Vietnam-like development potential given more competent and pragmatic leadership.

My regular round-up of Asian ETF developments  for Index Universe focuses on the cost of A share ETFs in Hong Kong.

There’s no doubt that the new collateral rules that the Securities and Futures Commission has brought in will mean a significant cost increase for many A share ETFs – which either means lower margins for providers or higher costs for users. Still, the difference between the costs for most funds and the lower TERs on the db x-trackers range is striking and seems hard to explain.

I wrote a piece on the tax treatment of foreign shares for MoneyWeek magazine this week.

It’s as much of an introduction as can fit in one magazine page, but this is a much larger topic. See my articles on UK tax and foreign dividends, holding foreign stocks in an ISA or SIPP tax wrapper, reclaiming dividend withholding tax (WHT) on foreign shares and more on the International Investor.