Taishin buys investment trust
The board of Taishin Securities Co (台証證券), a subsidiary of Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), yesterday approved a proposal to take up the remaining 55 percent stake in Taishin Investment Trust Co (台新投信), making the investment trust arm wholly owned, the company said in a press statement.
Taishin Securities will complete the acquisition at a cost of NT$14.55 per share, the statement said, without disclosing the deal’s total amount.
After the merger, the parent financial group hopes to leverage the outlets of both companies to strengthen its financial services.
Gasoline, diesel prices down
Domestic gasoline prices as well as diesel prices will both be lowered by NT$0.1 per liter today, state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday.
After the adjustment, CPC’s price for a liter of 98-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$25.2, 95-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$23.7, and 92-octane unleaded gasoline NT$23.
Diesel will be priced at NT$20.2.
Rival Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only publicly traded oil refiner, said it would match CPC’s price adjustment and that its new prices would also take effect from today.
CPC adjusts its gas prices every Friday.
China Life plans to sell debt
China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) plans to sell NT$2 billion (US$58 million) of five-year subordinated debt through a private placement to boost capital, the company said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
The debt, which is sold through a private placement, will be converted into shares of China Life on maturity, the statement said. The subordinated debt pays an interest of 4 percent.
NASDAQ, TAIFEX ink deal
The NASDAQ OMX Group Inc and the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the intent to pursue a business partnership, the two exchanges said in a joint statement yesterday.
Under the MOU, the two exchanges will share information and best practices regarding product development, market operations and common interest areas in the derivatives market, the statement said.
The two exchanges signed the MOU at the FIA Conference in Boca Raton, Florida, on Thursday, with TAIFEX president Steve Wang (王中愷) and NASDAQ OMX president Magnus Bocker participating.
“In response to the rapidly changing global financial landscape, TAIFEX and NASDAQ OMX will work closely to leverage unique knowledge from each other’s markets,” Wang said in the statement.
FTC tightens bank rules
The Fair Trade Commission yesterday said that banks wishing to charge management fees on small accounts must fully disclose the information in a contract or a similar written document to depositors beforehand.
Financial institutions that fail to do so and deduct fees directly from the depositor’s account would be fined between NT$50,000 and NT$25 million for violating the Fair Trade Law (公平交易法), the commission said in a statement.
Local currency loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.001 to close at NT$34.495.
Turnover was US$1.032 billion.
Taishin buys investment trust
The board of Taishin Securities Co (台証證券), a subsidiary of Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), yesterday approved a proposal to take up the remaining 55 percent stake in Taishin Investment Trust Co (台新投信), making the investment trust arm wholly owned, the company said in a press statement.
Taishin Securities will complete the acquisition at a cost of NT$14.55 per share, the statement said, without disclosing the deal’s total amount.
After the merger, the parent financial group hopes to leverage the outlets of both companies to strengthen its financial services.
Gasoline, diesel prices down
Domestic gasoline prices as well as diesel prices will both be lowered by NT$0.1 per liter today, state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday.
After the adjustment, CPC’s price for a liter of 98-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$25.2, 95-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$23.7, and 92-octane unleaded gasoline NT$23.
Diesel will be priced at NT$20.2.
Rival Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only publicly traded oil refiner, said it would match CPC’s price adjustment and that its new prices would also take effect from today.
CPC adjusts its gas prices every Friday.
China Life plans to sell debt
China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) plans to sell NT$2 billion (US$58 million) of five-year subordinated debt through a private placement to boost capital, the company said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
The debt, which is sold through a private placement, will be converted into shares of China Life on maturity, the statement said. The subordinated debt pays an interest of 4 percent.
NASDAQ, TAIFEX ink deal
The NASDAQ OMX Group Inc and the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the intent to pursue a business partnership, the two exchanges said in a joint statement yesterday.
Under the MOU, the two exchanges will share information and best practices regarding product development, market operations and common interest areas in the derivatives market, the statement said.
The two exchanges signed the MOU at the FIA Conference in Boca Raton, Florida, on Thursday, with TAIFEX president Steve Wang (王中愷) and NASDAQ OMX president Magnus Bocker participating.
“In response to the rapidly changing global financial landscape, TAIFEX and NASDAQ OMX will work closely to leverage unique knowledge from each other’s markets,” Wang said in the statement.
FTC tightens bank rules
The Fair Trade Commission yesterday said that banks wishing to charge management fees on small accounts must fully disclose the information in a contract or a similar written document to depositors beforehand.
Financial institutions that fail to do so and deduct fees directly from the depositor’s account would be fined between NT$50,000 and NT$25 million for violating the Fair Trade Law (公平交易法), the commission said in a statement.
Local currency loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.001 to close at NT$34.495.
Turnover was US$1.032 billion.
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