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By Lisa Baertlein, Liz Lee and Joe Cash BEIJING/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -The United States and China on Tuesday began charging additional port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday toys to crude oil, making the high seas a key front in the trade war between the world's two largest economies. China said it had started to collect the special charges on U.S.-owned, operated, built, or flagged vessels but clarified that Chinese-built ships would be exempted from the levies. In details published by state broadcaster CCTV, China spelled out specific provisions on exemptions, which also include empty ships entering Chinese shipyards for repair. The China-imposed extra port fees would be collected at the first port of entry on a single voyage or for the first five voyages within a year, following an annual billing cycle beginning on April 17.     Early this year, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration announced plans to levy the fees on China-linked ships to loosen the country's grip on the global maritime industry and bolster U.S. shipbuilding.  An investigation during former President Joe Biden's administration concluded China uses unfair policies and practices to dominate the global maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors, clearing the way for those penalties. China hit back last week, saying it would impose its own port fees on U.S.-linked vessels from the same day the U.S. fees took effect. Analysts expect China-owned container carrier COSCO to be most affected, shouldering nearly half of that segment's expected $3.2 billion cost from those fees in 2026. In a related move, Beijing also imposed sanctions on Tuesday against five U.S.-linked subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean which it said had "assisted and supported" a U.S. probe into Chinese trade practices. China also launched an investigation into how the U.S. probe affected its shipping and shipbuilding industries. FREIGHT FRIGHT "This tit-for-tat symmetry locks both economies into a spiral of maritime taxation that risks distorting global freight flows," Athens-based Xclusiv Shipbrokers Inc said in a research note. A Shanghai-based consultant who advises global companies on trade with China said the new fees may not be very disruptive to the industry and any rising costs probably would be captured in higher prices. "What are we going to do? Stop shipping? Trade is already pretty disrupted with the U.S., but companies are finding a way," the consultant said, asking to remain anonymous as he was not authorised to speak with the media. The U.S. announced last Friday a carve-out for long-term charterers of China-operated vessels carrying U.S. ethane and LPG, deferring the port fees for them through December 10. But ship-tracking company Vortexa identified 45 LPG-carrying VLGCs – 11% of the total fleet – that would still be subject to China's port fee, its Americas analyst Samantha Hartke said. Clarksons Research said in a report that the new port fees could affect oil-tankers accounting for 15% of global capacity. Jefferies analyst Omar Nokta estimated that 13% of crude tankers and 11% of container ships in the global fleet would be affected. RETALIATION In a reprisal against China curbing exports of critical minerals, Trump on Friday threatened to slap additional 100% tariffs on goods from China and put new export controls on "any and all critical software" by November 1. Administration officials hours later warned that countries voting in favor of a plan by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from ocean shipping this week could face sanctions, port bans, or punitive vessel charges. China has publicly supported the IMO plan. "The weaponisation of both trade and environmental policy signals that shipping has moved from being a neutral conduit of global commerce to a direct instrument of statecraft," Xclusiv said.   Shares in Shanghai-listed COSCO rose more than 2% in early trading on Tuesday. The company said its board had approved a plan to buy back up to 1.5 billion yuan ($210.3 million) worth of its shares within the next three months to maintain corporate value and safeguard shareholder interest. The shipping firm did not immediately respond to Reuters' queries about the port fees. ($1 = 7.1337 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, Liz Lee, Joe Cash and Sam Li in Beijing; Additional reporting by Samuel Shen, Brenda Goh in Shanghai and James Pomfret in Hong Kong; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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By Munsif Vengattil and Sarita Chaganti Singh BENGALURU (Reuters) -Google will invest $15 billion over five years to set up an artificial intelligence data centre in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh, a company official said on Tuesday, for its biggest ever investment in the world's most populous nation. Google has committed to spending some $85 billion this year to build out data centre capacity as big tech companies spend heavily on building new data centre infrastructure as they compete to fill booming demand for AI services. "It's the largest AI hub that we are going to be investing in anywhere in the world outside of the United States," Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said at a New Delhi event, adding that investment will be spread over the next five years. "It is a part of a global network of AI centres in 12 different countries." The data centre campus in the port city of Visakhapatnam will have a capacity of 1-Gigawatt initially, but will be scaled to "multiple gigawatts", Kurian added. Earlier, state officials had estimated the investment at $10 billion for the centre, which the state government has said is expected to generate 188,000 jobs. Microsoft and Amazon have already poured billions into building data centres in India, a key growth market, in which nearly a billion users access the internet. Indian billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani have also unveiled investments in building capacity for data centres. AI requires enormous computing power, pushing demand for specialised data centers enabling tech companies to link thousands of chips together in clusters. Google parent Alphabet Inc counts India as a key growth market where its YouTube video services has most users, and Android phones dominate smartphone usage. However, the U.S. giant has been battling many antitrust challenges in India over its business practices, and also faces a lawsuit from a Bollywood couple challenging YouTube's AI policy. (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Sarita Chaganti Singh; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez)

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By Gregor Stuart Hunter SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Asian stocks tumbled on Tuesday, dogged by growing doubts over whether China and the U.S. could strike a tariff deal when the world's two largest economies meet later this month amid revived tensions over trade. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed early gains to fall 1.2% as S&P 500 futures slid 0.6%. The Nikkei stock index fell as much as 3%. "Both Washington and Beijing are posturing before the November summit – escalate to de-escalate," said Marc Velan, head of investments at Lucerne Asset Management in Singapore. "Neither can afford a trade war heading into U.S. mid-terms." Markets had earlier joined the rebound from Monday's cash session after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump remains on track to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in late October. But he added fuel to the fire in an interview in the Financial Times where he accused Beijing of trying to damage the global economy. As negotiations between the U.S. and China intensify, the two nations will from today begin charging port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday toys to crude oil. Wall Street's main indexes had ended as much as 2.2% higher on Monday, led by chipmakers, after Trump struck a more conciliatory tone on trade tensions with China, reversing some of the panic from Friday when Trump announced 100% tariffs on China. Citi analysts said they do not expect an escalation of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.  "The reason is not so much the reassuring President Trump tweet over the weekend, but the fact that China may be the only country with bargaining power, where the U.S. may have to be more flexible in its negotiation stance," Citi wrote. But a spokesperson for China's commerce ministry said on Tuesday the U.S. cannot seek talks while also making threats, keeping markets on edge over the chances for a broader trade deal. Beijing announced sanctions on Tuesday against five U.S.-linked subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean. After early gains in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 2%, while in the mainland, the CSI 300 gauge of blue-chip Chinese stocks slipped 1.3%. Asian chipmakers veered sharply between gains and losses. TSMC clung to gains after OpenAI said it has partnered with Broadcom to produce its first in-house artificial intelligence processors. South Korea's Kospi index erased early gains, dragged by the broader selloff. The market had rallied at the start of the session, helped by Samsung Electronics', which projected a better-than-expected 32% rise in third-quarter profit, although the tech giant lost 1.7% as the day progressed. The yen strengthened 0.3% to 151.85 against the dollar after Japan's finance minister warned the country needs a new economic strategy that deals with inflation, rather than deflation. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond was last 4.0187%, down 3.23 basis points compared with a previous close of 4.051%. "Trump's latest tariff threats are still seen primarily as a negotiation tactic, rather than policy reality," analysts from Danske Bank wrote in a research report. They noted any escalation in the trade war would only increase the likelihood of the Federal Reserve front-loading planned rate cuts. Traders expect Fed easing later this month is a near-certainty. Pricing of Fed funds futures implies a 96.7% probability of a 25-basis-point cut to interest rates at the Fed meeting on October 29, compared with a 98.3% chance a day earlier, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. The euro was barely changed at $1.1584 after French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to resign on Monday, as his latest government was threatened by two no-confidence motions. Brent crude was last down 0.4% at $63.06 per barrel after an OPEC report showed world oil supply is expected to closely match demand next year, a contrast from last month's outlook, which projected a shortfall. Gold slipped 0.2% to $4,104.39 per ounce, pausing for breath after setting a fresh record. Bitcoin tumbled 3.1% to $112,235.34, while ether tanked 6.5% to $4,012.79. (Reporting by Gregor Stuart Hunter; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Shri Navaratnam and Sam Holmes)

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By Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu and Joe Cash WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump remains on track to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in late October, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, as both sides looked to ease tensions following fresh tariff threats and export controls. A return to an all-out trade war between the world's two largest economies appeared imminent late last week, after China announced on Thursday a major expansion of its rare earths export controls. Trump responded on Friday by threatening to raise tariffs on Chinese goods to triple-digits, sending markets and U.S.-China relations into a tailspin. But after the weekend, Bessent and China's Commerce Ministry sought to reassure traders and investors on both sides of the Pacific, highlighting the cooperation between their negotiating teams and the possibility they could find a way forward from the current tariff truce. The language in statements from both sides remains tough, however. "We have substantially de-escalated," Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network on Monday. Substantial communications between the two sides had taken place over the weekend and there would be U.S.-China staff-level meetings this week in Washington on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual gatherings, he added. "The 100% tariff does not have to happen," Bessent said. "The relationship, despite this announcement last week, is good. Lines of communication have reopened, so we'll see where it goes." "President Trump said that the tariffs would not go into effect until November 1. He will be meeting with Party Chair Xi in Korea. I believe that meeting will still be on." Trump and Xi had planned to meet during the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum hosted by South Korea in late October. In a statement on Tuesday, China's Commerce Ministry confirmed that a working-level meeting had taken place the previous day, while highlighting earlier formal negotiations held in London, Stockholm and Madrid, culminating in a 90-day tariff extension. But the statement from a Commerce Ministry spokesperson warned "the U.S. cannot ask for talks while simultaneously threatening new restrictive measures." Over the weekend, officials from both sides looked to shift the blame for risking a renewed trade war onto each other. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday that China had deferred Washington's request for a phone call following Beijing's rare earths announcement, calling the move a "power grab." That same day, China's Commerce Ministry criticised the addition of Chinese companies to a U.S. trade blacklist and the imposition of port fees on China-linked ships. Wall Street's main indexes ended as much as 2.2% higher on Monday, following Bessent's signal that trade negotiations between the two superpowers remain on track, and Asian stocks made a tentative rebound in early trade on Tuesday. Markets shrugged off the U.S. and China sticking with retaliatory port fees, with shares of Chinese shipping giant COSCO – likely the most affected firm – rising more than 2% in Shanghai to a three-week high, buoyed by a share buyback plan. BOTH SIDES READY FOR A FIGHT Both sides remain ready for a fight, however, accusing each other of attempting to derail the global economy. "China is a command-and-control economy. They are neither going to command nor control us," Bessent said, adding that the White House had been in contact with allies and expects support from the Europeans, India and democracies in Asia. Meanwhile, Beijing said it sought to "jointly maintain the security and stability of global production and supply chains," defending its new export licensing regime. Some analysts say the new regime could affect the manufacture of everything from cars to washing machines, even when no Chinese companies are involved in the final product. The U.S. would reject licensing requirements from China, Bessent said in the interview on "Mornings with Maria." "China's position is consistent: if the U.S. wants a fight, China will respond to the end. If it wants to talk, China's door is open," the Commerce Ministry's statement said, before softening to focus on the prospect of Xi and Trump reaching a breakthrough. "Guided by the important consensus reached in the recent call between the two presidents, both sides should safeguard the hard-won progress of consultations," the statement concluded. (Reporting by Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu, David Lawder and Joe Cash in Beijing; Writing by Doina Chiacu and Joe Cash; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Alistair Bell and Lincoln Feast)

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By Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu and Joe Cash WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump remains on track to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in late October, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, as both sides looked to ease tensions following fresh tariff threats and export controls. A return to an all-out trade war between the world's two largest economies appeared imminent late last week, after China announced on Thursday a major expansion of its rare earths export controls. Trump responded on Friday by threatening to raise tariffs on Chinese goods to triple-digits, sending markets and U.S.-China relations into a tailspin. But after the weekend, Bessent and China's Commerce Ministry sought to reassure traders and investors on both sides of the Pacific, highlighting the cooperation between their negotiating teams and the possibility they could find a way forward from the current tariff truce. The language in statements from both sides remains tough, however. "We have substantially de-escalated," Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network on Monday. Substantial communications between the two sides had taken place over the weekend and there would be U.S.-China staff-level meetings this week in Washington on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual gatherings, he added. "The 100% tariff does not have to happen," Bessent said. "The relationship, despite this announcement last week, is good. Lines of communication have reopened, so we'll see where it goes." "President Trump said that the tariffs would not go into effect until November 1. He will be meeting with Party Chair Xi in Korea. I believe that meeting will still be on." Trump and Xi had planned to meet during the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum hosted by South Korea in late October. In a statement on Tuesday, China's Commerce Ministry confirmed that a working-level meeting had taken place the previous day, while highlighting earlier formal negotiations held in London, Stockholm and Madrid, culminating in a 90-day tariff extension. But the statement from a Commerce Ministry spokesperson warned "the U.S. cannot ask for talks while simultaneously threatening new restrictive measures." Over the weekend, officials from both sides looked to shift the blame for risking a renewed trade war onto each other. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday that China had deferred Washington's request for a phone call following Beijing's rare earths announcement, calling the move a "power grab." That same day, China's Commerce Ministry criticised the addition of Chinese companies to a U.S. trade blacklist and the imposition of port fees on China-linked ships. Wall Street's main indexes ended as much as 2.2% higher on Monday, following Bessent's signal that trade negotiations between the two superpowers remain on track, and Asian stocks made a tentative rebound in early trade on Tuesday. Markets shrugged off the U.S. and China sticking with retaliatory port fees, with shares of Chinese shipping giant COSCO – likely the most affected firm – rising more than 2% in Shanghai to a three-week high, buoyed by a share buyback plan. BOTH SIDES READY FOR A FIGHT Both sides remain ready for a fight, however, accusing each other of attempting to derail the global economy. "China is a command-and-control economy. They are neither going to command nor control us," Bessent said, adding that the White House had been in contact with allies and expects support from the Europeans, India and democracies in Asia. Meanwhile, Beijing said it sought to "jointly maintain the security and stability of global production and supply chains," defending its new export licensing regime. Some analysts say the new regime could affect the manufacture of everything from cars to washing machines, even when no Chinese companies are involved in the final product. The U.S. would reject licensing requirements from China, Bessent said in the interview on "Mornings with Maria." "China's position is consistent: if the U.S. wants a fight, China will respond to the end. If it wants to talk, China's door is open," the Commerce Ministry's statement said, before softening to focus on the prospect of Xi and Trump reaching a breakthrough. "Guided by the important consensus reached in the recent call between the two presidents, both sides should safeguard the hard-won progress of consultations," the statement concluded. (Reporting by Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu, David Lawder and Joe Cash in Beijing; Writing by Doina Chiacu and Joe Cash; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Alistair Bell and Lincoln Feast)

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BENGALURU (Reuters) -Google will invest $15 billion over the next five years to set up data centre capacity for an artificial intelligence hub in India's Andhra Pradesh, the company said on Tuesday, marking one of its biggest ever investments in the country. "It's the largest AI hub that we are going to be investing in anywhere in the world outside of the U.S.," Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said at a New Delhi event. The 1-gigawatt data centre campus by the Alphabet Inc unit will be based in the port city of Visakhapatnam. Officials from the southern Indian state earlier put the investment at $10 billion. The move comes amid intensifying competition among big tech companies, which are spending heavily on building new data centre infrastructure to meet booming demand for AI services. Google alone has committed to spending some $85 billion this year to build out data centre capacity. AI requires enormous computing power, pushing demand for specialized data centers that enable tech companies to link thousands of chips together in clusters. Microsoft and Amazon have already poured billions into building data centres in India, a key growth market for the global tech giants where nearly a billion users access the internet. Reuters first reported about Google's plans in July. The search giant's data centre will be the largest in capacity and investment size in Asia, and is part of a multi-billion-dollar expansion of its data centre portfolio across the region in countries including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, Reuters reported at the time. "In an era where data is the new oil, such initiatives will serve as a strategic advantage," state IT Minister Nara Lokesh said. (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Sarita Chaganti Singh in New Delhi; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Lincoln Feast.)

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BERLIN (Reuters) -German inflation rose slightly in September to 2.4%, the federal statistics office said on Thursday, confirming preliminary data. Inflation, or consumer prices harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, stood at 2.1% year-on-year in August. The statistics office gives more detailed monthly data on its website. (Reporting by Friederike Heine, editing by Ludwig Burger)

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By Rae Wee SINGAPORE (Reuters) -A rebound in the dollar proved short-lived on Tuesday following renewed signs of strains in U.S.-China trade relations, which dented risk sentiment and left investors ducking for cover in traditional safe havens like the yen and the Swiss franc. Just as markets found some reprieve after U.S. President Donald Trump struck a more conciliatory tone against tariffs on China, and on signs that a meeting with his Chinese counterpart was on track for later this month, developments on Tuesday served as a stark reminder that ties between the two nations remain on thin ice. Beijing announced that it has taken countermeasures against five U.S.-linked subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilding firm Hanwha Ocean and separately said it has launched an investigation into how a U.S. Section 301 probe affects its domestic shipping industry. Adding to tensions, the United States and China on Tuesday will begin charging additional port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday toys to crude oil. All that sent the dollar sliding broadly, reversing its gains from earlier in the session. The euro edged 0.14% higher against a weaker greenback to $1.1585, while sterling was up 0.12% to $1.3351. The Australian dollar, often used as a proxy for risk appetite, suffered heavy losses to last trade 0.63% lower at $0.6475. The New Zealand dollar fell 0.5% to $0.5697. "Beijing has been quite clear, they want negotiations and they want a relationship that's based on mutual respect and something that's going to be driven by a fair basis," said Vishnu Varathan, Mizuho's head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan. "There's a clear case to be made that this is not going to end just because parties have met to speak, because the underlying source of tensions… cannot be resolved until and unless someone concedes far more than they're willing to. "This U.S.-China state of affairs is not a cyclical thing. It's a structural feature of the new geoeconomic realities, and that's just what it is." China's commerce ministry also said on Tuesday that it had informed the U.S. about the rare earth export controls Beijing announced last week prior to their introduction, adding that working-level talks between the two sides took place on Monday. Safe-haven currencies like the yen and the Swiss franc meanwhile made steady gains. Against the dollar, the Swissie was up 0.2% to 0.8027, while the yen reversed early losses to stand 0.3% higher at 151.86. Still, lingering political uncertainty in Japan capped the yen's gains, after Sanae Takaichi's bid to become the nation's first female prime minister was thrown into doubt on Friday when her ruling party's junior coalition partner quit. While the move halted the currency's steep slide as investors assessed the chances of huge fiscal largesse under the new premiership, it continues to languish near eight-month lows. "If you ask me, given the current interest rate differential between the U.S. and Japan, which should be the primary driver of the exchange rate as well, dollar/yen should not be at 152, so I do expect this trend to reverse pretty soon," said Nigel Foo, head of Asian fixed income at First Sentier Investors, who expects the yen to strengthen eventually. Elsewhere, cryptocurrencies were similarly caught in the broad selloff in risk assets, with bitcoin slumping 2.7% to $112,714.58. Ether tumbled 4.9% to $4,077.79. Market participants said the crypto sector on Friday saw more than $19 billion in liquidations across leveraged positions as panic selling and low liquidity triggered sharp swings. (Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Kim Coghill)

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By Liz Lee, Yukun Zhang and Heejin Kim BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) -China announced sanctions on Tuesday against five U.S.-linked subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean amid trade tensions between the world's two largest economies, sending the company's shares sharply lower. The move, announced by the Chinese commerce ministry, comes on the day that China and the U.S. implement additional port fees targeting each others' vessels, although China has exempted ships it built. Organisations and individuals within China are prohibited from engaging in any transactions, cooperation or related activities with these Hanwha entities, the ministry said in a statement. "Hanwha Ocean's U.S.-related subsidiaries have assisted and supported the U.S. government's relevant investigative activities, thereby jeopardising China's sovereignty, security, and developmental interests," the statement said, without elaborating. Hanwha did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. In August, Hanwha announced a $5 billion additional investment on the Philly Shipyard, which it acquired in 2024 for $100 million, after South Korea pledged to inject as much as $150 billion to help the U.S. revive its domestic industry. President Donald Trump's administration has said the U.S. needs help from allies Japan and South Korea to revitalise the troubled shipbuilding sector, which is lagging behind China, especially for manufacturing warships. Hanwha's domestic rival HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipbuilder, is also in talks with multiple companies to acquire U.S. shipyards, Reuters reported in September. Hanwha runs a shipyard in Shandong, China, that builds modules of ship components, according to a company filing. Hanwha supplies the modules to its shipyard in South Korea for the final assembly, according to the firm. Shares of Hanwha Ocean tumbled 5.3% at 0417 GMT after China announced the countermeasures. HD Hyundai Heavy slipped 4.4%. The Trump's administration announced earlier this year plans to levy fees on China-linked ships to loosen Beijing's grip on the global maritime industry and bolster U.S. shipbuilding. China hit back last week saying it would impose its own port fees on U.S.-linked vessels on the same day then U.S. fees come into effect. China has called U.S. measures targeting its maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding industries a serious violation of international law and fundamental norms of international relations. (Reporting by Liz Lee, Yukun Zhang and Heejin Kim; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Kim Coghill)

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By Miho Uranaka and Echo Wang TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Investors expect the valuation of PayPay could exceed 3 trillion yen ($20 billion) as SoftBank prepares for an initial public offering of the Japanese payments app operator in the United States as early as December, according to two sources. SoftBank has been meeting with institutional investors since mid-September to discuss potential valuations in the IPO, the sources, who are familiar with the matter, said. Investors see 2 trillion yen as a baseline but expect the valuation could top 3 trillion yen, according to the sources. The potential valuation and the views of investors are being reported by Reuters for the first time. PayPay declined to comment. The sources declined to be named as the information is not public, and cautioned that deliberations are continuing and factors including valuation remain subject to market conditions. The deliberations come as the U.S. IPO market enjoyed its busiest quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021, with companies raising $24 billion through first-time share sales in the third quarter, according to Dealogic. The baseline valuation is based on expansion of PayPay's Japanese business but there is a range of views among investors about its prospects for growing its overseas footprint, which could support a higher valuation, one of the sources said. PayPay announced last month that users would be able to make payments abroad, beginning with South Korea, which is a popular foreign destination for Japanese travellers. "The key focus going forward will be to what extent overseas expansion can be realistically pictured as a growth story, given the lack of business foundations not only in the U.S. but also in Asia," said the source. PayPay has played a role in encouraging Japanese consumers to move away from a long-standing preference for cash by offering rebates on payments through its mobile app. It is the market leader in QR code payments and also offers services including banking and credit cards. Reuters reported in August SoftBank has selected investment banks for the potential IPO. Japan's cashless payments ratio exceeded 40% last year, compared to more than 80% in South Korea and China. The industry ministry aims to lift that further, as part of efforts to cut costs and address labour shortages. SoftBank's telecoms arm reported that operating profit at its financial segment, which includes PayPay, more than doubled to 18.1 billion yen in the April-June quarter. "Structural profit improvement is progressing, and future growth can be anticipated," said SBI Securities analyst Yukari Housui. PayPay is taking steps to bolster its cryptocurrency business. Last week PayPay said it has acquired a 40% stake in the Japanese business of Binance and plans to launch new crypto services. PayPay's ownership is split between a number of SoftBank entities: wireless carrier SoftBank Corp, the Vision Fund investment arm, and internet business LY Corp, which is a joint venture between SoftBank and Naver Corp. Companies around the world are looking to list in the U.S. as they seek higher valuations. Around 20 Japanese companies have listed there in the last five years although in some cases they have underperformed and later delisted. Round One, an operator of amusement attractions, is considering overseas listings for two subsidiaries as it expands in the U.S. and looks to boost its brand recognition. ($1 = 153.0800 yen) (Reporting by Miho Uranaka and Echo Wang; Writing by Sam Nussey;Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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