Credit-card figures released
As of the end of August, there were 31 banks issuing more than 3.8 million cash-advanced cards in the nation with total loans amounting to NT$145.2 billion, or 3.45 percent of consumer loans, the Bureau of Monetary Affairs reported yesterday.
As concerns were raised regarding the management of cash-advanced cards due to loose control and management of the service indicated by financial experts, the bureau said the non-performing loan ratio of the card is 1.73 percent, which is within a reasonable range.
The bureau also announced statistics for credit cards yesterday, saying there are currently 8.6 million credit-card holders in the nation, and each has average four cards in use, in the same period of time. The bad-loan ratio for credit cards is also in a reasonable 4 percent.
Bank of Taiwan in trouble
Bank of Taiwan's (台灣銀行) Tokyo-based off-shore banking unit (OBU) was rectified by Japan's financial authorities for business income tax evasion, Huang Tien-mu (黃天牧), deputy director-general of the Bureau of Monetary Affairs, confirmed yesterday.
Huang, however, refused to reveal the tax amount. Local media speculated that Bank of Taiwan may have to pay out over NT$100 million in taxes.
Huang, in addition, said that the bank failed to comply with banking rules in Japan, which stipulate that OBUs should not grant loans to non-residents and corporations.
No effect on rating for Macronix
Macronix International Co's (旺宏) announcement on Monday that it had reduced its net loss for the third quarter will have no immediate effect on its rating, Standard and Poor (S&P) said in a statement yesterday.
Macronix posted quarterly sales of NT$4.9 billion, a 22 percent rise from the previous quarter, which resulted in a net loss of NT$1.2 billion, compared with NT$3 billion in the previous quarter.
CEPD sets growth target
The Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) has set Taiwan's economic growth rate target for next year at 4.7 percent, according to a national development program approved on Monday by the government's top economic planning agency.
CEPD Vice Chairwoman Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said that the "challenging target" can be achieved if a NT$500 billion (US$14.8 billion) program for expanding public construction in five years can be carried out smoothly and the existing program for increasing job opportunities can continue.
Fubon profits rise 9.6 percent
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), which is about one-tenth owned by Citigroup Inc, indicated that third-quarter profits rose 9.6 percent from a year earlier, boosted by the acquisition of TaipeiBank (台北銀行) last year.
Net income rose to NT$3.87 billion (US$114 million) in the three months ending Sept. 30, from NT$3.53 billion a year earlier.
Mega raises profit forecast
Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), the nation's third-largest financial company by market value, raised its annual profit forecast by 21 percent to NT$18.1 billion (US$532 million) after cutting costs and winning more business.
The company, which said last week it may increase its outlook for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, will hold an investor meeting on Nov. 13 to detail its earnings and business plan.
NT dollar maintains strength
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday maintained its strength against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.004 to close at NT$33.988 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$440 million.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day