Singapore/Sydney – The March 26 debut of Squawk Australia, a one-hour daily business news show produced by CNBC Asia Pacific’s newly established Sydney bureau, neatly coincides with a relaunch of much of CNBC’s programming in Asia and Europe.

For competitive reasons, CNBC Asia Pacific President Jeremy Pink was coy about the changes, but he referred to them as a ‘revamp’ of the schedule and an enhanced global programming strategy of Following the Money as the Markets open. 

Jeffrey James, a journo with more than 20 years experience in Australia, Asia and Europe, will anchor Squawk Australia from temporary studios in Sydney. Working with a Sydney-based production team, he will also serve as an Australian-based correspondent, providing live reports on global financial markets activity, corporate and political news. From mid-July he will be joined by a second anchor and the show will be produced in a new studio being built in Bridge Street, opposite the Australian Stock Exchange.

James’ CV includes stints in Hong Kong as a presenter of News at 7.30, News Round-up and Financial News on TVB’s Pearl Channel; and as a business news anchor on Germany’s DW-TV, based in Berlin.

CNBC has had an advertising sales rep in Sydney for some years, but its presence and profile will now be much more substantial.  “Australia is an important market for us,” said Pink. “It’s the first market that opens and reacts to what happened in the US overnight. To an extent, it dictates and sets the pace in Asia for the rest of the day. We are committed to comprehensively covering one of the major business and finance hubs, to meet the demands of the global business community.”

Aired at 8 am Sydney time, Squawk Australia will bring to nine hours the amount of daily content produced in the region, and it will be incorporated in CNBC’s programming in the rest of the world. Its content can also be accessed on CNBC’s website. 

“CNBC’s programming changes will provide stronger and more dynamic coverage of real time global business and financial news and analysis,” Pink added. “By leveraging our new bureau in Australia, and tapping into our new talent and resource base from there, we are in a prime position to follow, LIVE, the money as the markets open, in Australia, Asia, Europe and the US.”