Incoming Minister of Finance Joseph Lyu (
"I'll hold discussions with the ministry's staff [today] to gain a clear understanding [about the ministry's tasks] before advancing my opinions," said Lyu, who served as chairman of the Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) until yesterday.
Lyu will assume office today, while Lin will retire. Lin has been invited to serve as an unpaid National Policy Adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (
After evading reporters' questions several times at Lin's farewell party yesterday, the tight-lipped Lyu merely said, "I'll do my best" at his own farewell event later in the day.
During Lyu's 575-day chairmanship of the nation's largest lender, the 50-year-old banker was known for strong execution skills and an active management style.
As of Monday, the bank had recorded NT$1.36 trillion (US$42.5 billion) in total lending. The previous high was in 2000, when the century-old bank's loans totaled NT$1.35 trillion.
Its broad-based non-performing loan (NPL) ratio has dropped to under 1.5 percent, and it reported pretax profits of NT$15.2 billion last year, surpassing the statutory budget, Lyu said.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
HEADWINDS: Upfront investment is unavoidable in the merger, but cost savings would materialize over time, TS Financial Holding Co president Welch Lin said TS Financial Holding Co (台新新光金控) said it would take about two years before the benefits of its merger with Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) become evident, as the group prioritizes the consolidation of its major subsidiaries. “The group’s priority is to complete the consolidation of different subsidiaries,” Welch Lin (林維俊), president of the nation’s fourth-largest financial conglomerate by assets, told reporters during its first earnings briefing since the merger took effect on July 24. The asset management units are scheduled to merge in November, followed by life insurance in January next year and securities operations in April, Lin said. Banking integration,
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
Artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Cambricon Technologies Corp (寒武紀科技) plunged almost 9 percent after warning investors about a doubling in its share price over just a month, a record gain that helped fuel a US$1 trillion Chinese market rally. Cambricon triggered the selloff with a Thursday filing in which it dispelled talk about nonexistent products in the pipeline, reminded investors it labors under US sanctions, and stressed the difficulties of ascending the technology ladder. The Shanghai-listed company’s stock dived by the most since April in early yesterday trading, while the market stood largely unchanged. The litany of warnings underscores growing scrutiny of
RSS