Franco-Belgian investment bank Dexia, which narrowly escaped collapse in the 2008 global financial crisis, needs to dispose of another 20 billion euros’ (US$26.7 billion) in bad debt, a press report said yesterday.
Business daily Les Echos, citing a source at the bank, said that having disposed of about 80 billion euros in toxic loans, Dexia now planned to offload another 20 billion euros’ worth.
The source said that even though Dexia might take a loss of up to 10 percent on the sale of the bad assets, it would still be worthwhile so as to improve the bank’s financial position at a time of great stress on the markets.
French banks have come under intense pressure to strengthen their capital base, given concerns over their exposure to weak eurozone countries, especially Greece.
Press reports over the weekend suggested Dexia could also be looking at a tie-up with French state-controlled banks.
One report said France was planning a 10-15 billion euro recapitalization plan for five top banks struggling with the eurozone debt crisis.
The Journal du Dimanche newspaper said the state had made the offer during a Sept. 11 meeting with top officials from five banks — BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, BPCE and Credit Mutuel. The weekly said the plan was rejected by Societe Generale.
Issuing what it called a “formal denial,” the finance ministry said the government had held talks with leading banks on their state of health, but denied the bailout offer.
All the concerned banks declined comment on the Journal report, which cited sources in the Elysee presidential palace and in banking circles.
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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained