HSBC to launch new plan
HSBC Bank (Taiwan) yesterday said it would introduce a plan that would allow customers to pay fixed monthly fees for purchases of wealth management products.
The plan, already available in HSBC branches in Hong Kong and Singapore, would cut costs for investors who adjust their portfolio frequently, it said.
Investors have become more risk-conscious after the global financial crisis in 2008 and have to pay higher fees for individual transactions, wealth management head Steve Chuang (莊懷德) said.
The plan will not lower HSBC’s fee income because it may bring in more customers and raise overall revenue, Chuang said.
AUO approves capital spending
AU Optronics Corp’s (友達光電) board has approved NT$8.24 billion (US$279 million) in capital spending, the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel manufacturer said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The money will be mainly used to upgrade panel technology for use in tablet personal computers and convert capacity to production of displays for tablet PCs, 3D TVs and smartphones.
FPD makers ‘should cooperate’
Taiwan’s and Japan’s flat-panel industries will gain a competitive edge if they decide to work together, a Nikkei Business Publications executive said on Tuesday.
The two sides will complement each other because Taiwan’s flat-panel display (FPD) makers are production-based, while Japan’s are focused on research and development (R&D), Tetsushi Hayashi, head of the publication’s Electronics/Mechanical Group, said at this year’s FPD International Taiwan exposition.
Taiwan and Japan can collaborate on the FPD supply chain, he said.
For instance, Taiwan can benefit from Japanese FPD material suppliers’ R&D achievements in transparent conductive oxide thin films, he said.
Google Chrome store in Taiwan
Google yesterday said it had expanded its Chrome Web Store to Taiwan, enabling users to install and run Web applications through a traditional Chinese character interface.
The online marketplace was opened in December 2010 and has since been made available in more than 30 countries and regions around the world in 43 languages, offering more than 29,000 applications, extensions and themes. At present, millions of applications are downloaded through the store every day, the company said.
Bond rates rise
Taiwanese government bonds advanced as oil prices hit a nine-month high and concern Greece’s bailout would not resolve Europe’s debt crisis deterred risk-taking.
Oil for April delivery rose 2.5 percent yesterday, touching US$106.07 a barrel, the highest since May 5.
The yield on the government’s 1.25 percent bonds due March 2022 edged down 0.01 percentage points to 1.269 percent as of 9:56am, GRETAI Securities Market data showed. Benchmark 10-year rates reached 1.260 percent on Thursday last week, the lowest closing level since Dec. 19.
NT dollar falls on intervention
The New Taiwan dollar dropped NT$0.014 to close at NT$29.58 against the US dollar yesterday, after the central bank stepped in late in the trading session to curb the local currency’s appreciation, dealers said.
Many traders remained on the sidelines, however, as the mixed performance of other currencies in the region gave few hints on the best strategies to follow in the foreign exchange market, they said.
Turnover totaled US$589 million.
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