INSURANCE
Aegon repays Dutch aid
Aegon NV, a Netherlands-based insurer that has the bulk of its operations in the US, said it had repaid the remaining 750 million euros (US$1.08 billion) in aid it received from the Dutch state during the 2008 financial crisis. In all, Aegon got 3 billion euros and repaid 4.1 billion euros in principal and interest. In a statement yesterday, the company — owner of the Transamerica brand — thanked the Dutch government for its support and customers for their “continued confidence.”
INSURANCE
Aviva picks RBS official
British insurer Aviva said yesterday that John McFarlane, a non-executive director of bailed-out lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), will become its new chairman next year. “Aviva PLC (‘Aviva’) announces that John McFarlane will become a non-executive director on 1 September 2011,” the London-listed group said in an official statement. “He will then become deputy chairman on 1 January 2012 and take up the position of chairman from Lord Sharman of Redlynch at the end of June 2012.” McFarlane will step down from the RBS board in March next year.
SOUTH KOREA
Unemployment rate falls
South Korean unemployment fell sharply last month compared with the previous month as employers increased hiring amid an economic recovery, Statistics Korea said yesterday, as rising prices put the focus on inflation. In a further sign of strength for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, the country recorded a trade surplus for the 16th straight month last month thanks to continued strong exports. The unemployment rate of 3.2 percent last month was unchanged from May last year, but down markedly from 3.7 percent in April, Statistics Korea said.
CHINA
Foreign investment slows
Foreign investment in China slowed last month as the government’s efforts to cool the overheated economy made headway, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday. Foreign spending on factories and other nonfinancial assets rose 13.4 percent from a year earlier to US$9.2 billion, the ministry said. That was slightly slower than April’s 15.2 percent rise and less than half of March’s rapid 32.9 percent growth rate. Foreign direct investment in China last year totaled US$105.7 billion.
FINANCE
Philippines’ rating upgraded
Moody’s yesterday upgraded the Philippines’ sovereign credit rating by a notch to “Ba2” with a stable outlook, citing a growing economy and improved fiscal position. The move put the government’s securities just two rungs below investment-grade. However, Moody’s said the burden of servicing the budget deficit, as well as its debt overhang, remain high compared with countries with the same sovereign rating.
REAL ESTATE
China developers ‘negative’
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on Wednesday downgraded the outlook for Chinese real-estate developers to “negative” from “stable” as Beijing restricts lending and limits their access to much-needed credit. “Meaningful price adjustments” in the world’s second-largest economy were expected in the second half of this year as “policy tightening starts to bite” and sales slow, S&P said in a note. “Any meaningful slippage in sales will significantly weaken the developers’ cash flow protection measures amid higher leverage and stiff competition.”
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”