BANKING
ANZ Bank to downsize
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ Bank) is preparing to cut up to 900 jobs, according to a union that represents bank workers, as the lender trims costs in an economy where demand for mortgages has slumped to the weakest pace in three decades. Australia’s four biggest banks, which employ about 178,000 people, are among lenders around the world facing slower revenue growth as borrowing falls among consumers whose confidence has been battered by Europe’s debt crisis and market turmoil. ANZ Bank “said to us that due to cost pressures and expectations that revenue is going to be difficult to generate over the course of this year, they are going to embark on a fairly aggressive cost-saving regime,” Finance Sector Union national secretary Leon Carter said by telephone yesterday.
SOUTH KOREA
Central bank freezes rate
The Bank of Korea yesterday froze its key interest rate for the seventh straight month, amid concern in the export--dependent nation over the European debt crisis and a global economic slowdown. The rate has stayed unchanged at 3.25 percent since a 25 basis-point rise in June last year, despite persistent price pressure. Inflation remained above the central bank’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for a second straight month last month, at 4.2 percent. In his New Year address President Lee Myung-bak stressed that curbing price rises was a priority. The bank said it expected a “very moderate” pace of global economic recovery.
INVESTMENT
KIC to invest in China stocks
Korea Investment Corp (KIC), South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund, received approval from Chinese authorities to invest in the world’s third-largest stock market, according to an official familiar with the matter. The fund was granted a license last month under Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) status, said the official, who asked not to be identified ahead of an official announcement from Chinese authorities. Korea Investment, with US$43 billion in assets as of its latest annual report published in June, posted returns of 8.46 percent from bonds and stocks in 2010, down from 18.67 percent the previous year, according to the annual report. The fund was established in July 2005 to invest part of South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves overseas.
TELEVISION
Google mulls LG deal
Google Inc is considering giving LG Electronics Inc first access to the next version of its Google TV software so the South Korean company can build a compatible television set, according to two people with knowledge of the project. The partnership would be similar to the arrangement Google has had with Samsung Electronics Co and HTC Corp (宏達國際電子股份有限公司) to create Nexus handsets for the Android operating system, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are not public. Google is working to build on momentum for its fledgling efforts in television as manufacturers led by Samsung introduce Web--connected sets. Google has said it plans to introduce the third version of its namesake television service by the end of this year, with more content and easier functions to find shows. LG, the world’s third-largest television maker, unveiled a set featuring Google software at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. LG plans to sell a 55-inch, wafer-thin TV using organic light-emitting diode technology and motion-sensing software.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last