BANKING
HSBC denied request
HSBC Holdings PLC was denied a request for dismissal of a lawsuit by a group of Taiwanese banks that accuse HSBC Bank USA of helping deceased financier Danny Pang’s (彭日成) PEM Group (保盛豐集團) defraud them of more than US$500 million. US District Judge Philip Gutierrez on Thursday rejected HSBC’s arguments that the banks should have brought their claims in the British Virgin Islands, where the PEMGroup entities that issued the securities were based, rather than in Los Angeles. He also dismissed contentions that the banks didn’t provide enough facts to support their fraud and conspiracy claims. Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南商業銀行) claimed US$191 million in losses; Hua Nan Investment Trust (華南永昌投信) US$48 million; Cosmos Bank Taiwan (萬泰銀行) US$45 million; EnTie Commercial Bank (安泰商業銀行) US$50 million; Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) US$122 million; and Taichung Commercial Bank (台中商業銀行) US$70 million, according to their complaint in October last year.
STEEL
ArcelorMittal to expand
Global steel giant ArcelorMittal will create 8,900 construction and mining jobs with a US$2.16 billion expansion of its Quebec mining complex near Labrador. The Luxembourg-based company said on Friday that annual production of iron ore concentrate will increase to 24 million tonnes from 14 million tonnes by 2013. ArcelorMittal Mines Canada is also evaluating doubling its iron ore pellets output to 18.5 million tonnes.
GOLD
Exchange to start gold funds
The Shanghai Gold Exchange is planning to start exchange-traded funds, tapping rising demand in China, the world’s biggest investment market for the precious metal. “There are some complexities, as the central bank is in charge of gold management, while we still need to go through the procedures for launching new exchange products,” Wang Zhe (王喆), chairman of the bourse, said at a Shanghai forum. There is no timetable and the exchange is working with regulators on the plan, Wang said. China is the world’s largest gold producer and second-largest in overall consumption. Gold investment demand by China more than doubled in the first quarter, overtaking India to become the largest market for gold coins and bars, the World Gold Council said on Thursday.
FINANCE
IMF approves Portugal loan
The IMF on Friday approved a 26 billion euro (US$36.9 billion) three-year loan to Portugal as part of an EU bailout of the struggling eurozone country. The “front-loaded program makes about 6.1 billion euros “immediately available to Portugal” from the IMF, the Washington-based institution said in a statement. EU finance ministers on Monday backed a three-year, 78 billion euro EU-IMF bailout for Portugal on condition Lisbon embarks on a major raft of public sell-offs.
ELECTRONICS
IBM briefly tops Microsoft
IBM briefly topped Microsoft in market value on Wall Street on Friday to become the second-largest technology company after Apple. However, IBM shares lost 0.25 percent to close at US$170.16, giving the New York-based company known as “Big Blue” a market capitalization of US$206.1 billion. Microsoft shares shed 0.91 percent to close at US$24.49, giving the US software giant a market capitalization of US$206.5 billion.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last