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Hong Kong. — Pollyanna Chu has lost her title as Hong Kong’s richest woman after her listed company turned into Asia’s worst performer this year.

Worth almost $12 billion as recently as January, she’s seen more than half of her wealth wiped out as the stock crashed.

Kingston Financial Group, which operates businesses including Macau casinos and margin lending, has tumbled 52 percent since Hong Kong’s securities regulator in January warned investors that the company’s shares were overly concentrated among a small number of stockholders.

Kingston Financial plunged 12 percent on Monday after FTSE Russell, one of the world’s most-followed index providers, removed the stock from its benchmarks.

For its financing, the firm relies largely on unsecured loans provided cheaply by Chu and her family, according to January analysis from activist investor David Webb.

The stock is the worst performer on MSCI’s Asian gauge this year, after surging 88 percent in the last quarter of 2017.

Some speculators may have made a killing from Kingston’s misfortunes – short interest was about 6,3 percent of free float as of Friday, according to IHS Markit data.

The company declined to immediately comment on the slump in shares.

The Securities and Futures Commission said in a January 29 statement that 20 holders controlled more than 91 percent of the shares as of January 8. The stock plunged 17 percent the following day.

Part of Chu’s wealth stems from her father’s background managing casino VIP rooms in the Asian gambling centre of Macau.

The sector still features prominently in the family controlled business; gaming and hotel revenues from the former Portuguese colony amounted to more than HK$670 million for the 2017 fiscal year, some 23 percent of total sales, according to Kingston’s annual report.

Chu is joining a record $5,2 billion deal to buy most of a Hong Kong skyscraper from Li Ka-Shing’s company, people familiar with the matter said last month. Chu will take a 17 percent stake, they said.

Pansy Ho, the daughter of Stanley Ho, is now No. 1 in Hong Kong’s ultra-rich women list, followed by Vivien Chen, chairperson of closely held real estate developer Nan Fung Group, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

Meanwhile, investors and policy makers should get some rest this weekend: For those tracking the world economy, next week is shaping up to be one of the busiest in recent memory.

From the selection of a new governor at the People’s Bank of China to the Federal Reserve’s likely first interest rate increase of 2018, here is a rundown of the key events and the stories you need to read to get ready for them.

Monday: China gets a new central banker

Five months after PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan hinted he would soon step down after 15 years, the National People’s Congress will name his successor.

Tasked with guiding the world’s second largest economy as its authorities try to curb its debt, Zhou’s replacement will take the reins of a central bank that’s wielding ever greater power at home and abroad.

Just this week, the government handed it the power to rewrite the rules for the financial sector it’s seeking to restrain.

Tuesday: G-20 finance chiefs present outlook

Central bankers and finance ministers from the Group of 20 are gathering for the first time this year in Buenos Aires. Their talks start Monday and conclude with the release of a statement on Tuesday.

They convene at a time when the global economy is in rude health, yet concerns are growing that its upswing may boil over.

While officials say they want to discuss what to do about cryptocurrencies, the topic of the moment is President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium.

Many governments are lobbying to be exempted, while also warning of a potential trade war. That could make for an uncomfortable couple of days for US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as he tries to play down trade frictions. Scandal-plagued Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso will not be attending.

Wednesday: Will the Fed raise interest rates?

Jerome Powell makes his debut in the hot seat, chairing his first meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee after taking over from Janet Yellen.

With the economy growing and the labor market tightening, betting is the Fed will raise its benchmark overnight lending rate to a range of 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent.

Perhaps a bigger question is whether officials will boost their estimate for 2018 rate hikes to four from a median of three at their last forecast round in December. Elsewhere in the Americas, Brazil’s central bank is predicted to cut its key rate to a record low.

Thursday: Bank of England readies rate increase.

Bank of England officials are expected to lay the groundwork for an interest-rate increase in May.

Inflation in the UK is still 1 percentage point above the bank’s target and policy makers are concerned that the economy’s speed-limit has dropped since the Brexit vote, leaving it at risk of overheating.

Investors currently assign a more than 80 percent chance of a move in May, and it would take a big shock from the BOE on Thursday to prompt a significant unwinding of that trade.

Elsewhere in the world, New Zealand, the Philippines and Indonesia also set rates today. Germany releases its Ifo Index on the business climate, which is expected to slip.

Friday: Trump imposes steel tariffs

Trump this month announced 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and 10 percent for aluminium and they take effect Friday.

Canada and Mexico are already excluded from the levies, and the Trump administration has left the door open for Australia and possibly other allies to win a similar concession if they can show they are trading fairly and are national-security partners.

Planned retaliation from the European Union to China has triggered concerns over a global trade war.

In South Africa, meanwhile, ratings agency Moody’s is set to announce whether or not it will downgrade SA’s sovereign debt to non-investment grade. — Fin24.