CURRENCIES
Australia, China sign deal
The central banks of Australia and China signed a 200 billion yuan (US$31 billion) currency swap to support trade and investment. The Reserve Bank of Australia said yesterday the agreement came after China allowed the Australian dollar to be exchanged for yuan in China’s bank-to-bank market. It says the agreement reflects increasing opportunities for the yuan to be used to pay for exports and imports between the two countries. The agreement allows for the exchange of the currencies between the two central banks and is for an initial three-year period.
BANKING
HSBC Canada to close arm
HSBC Financial, a subsidiary of HSBC Bank Canada, says it will stop taking new loan applications as it winds down its consumer finance business in Canada, putting 500 people out of work. HSBC Financial said on Wednesday that 75 HSBC Finance offices across the country will close as soon as is practical. The offices are operated on a stand-alone basis from HSBC Bank Canada. The move does not affect HSBC’s banking operations.
OPTICS
Olympus board in question
Foreign shareholders in Japan’s scandal-hit Olympus have called for a rethink of new board appointments, saying creditor banks have exerted “undue influence” on the lineup. In an open letter to the company, nine institutional investors, who collectively hold up to a 30 percent stake, said an independent chairman should be selected to head a board that would represent broad interests.
INFRASTRUCTURE
EU wants contracts access
The EU unveiled proposals on Wednesday aimed at forcing emerging powers such as China to offer European firms access to lucrative government contracts. After repeatedly complaining about Chinese restrictions, the European Commission proposed measures to allow the 27-nation bloc to bar foreign firms from winning government contracts if their countries block European companies. With EU firms also facing restrictions in India, Brazil and Russia, EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said Europe loses out on 12 billion euros (US$15.8 billion) per year worth of government contracts in third nations.
FAST FOOD
McDonald’s CEO to retire
McDonald’s says CEO Jim Skinner will retire later this year. Don Thompson, 48, the company’s current president, will take over the helm of the world’s biggest hamburger chain on July 1. Skinner, 67, has been with McDonald’s Corp for 41 years. He was named CEO in 2004.
MOBILE PHONES
Nokia seeks tattoo patent
Mobile phone maker Nokia is seeking a US patent for tattoos that vibrate to let people know when they have calls on their mobile phones. Technology laid out in a patent application available online on Wednesday would enable tattoos to receive magnetic waves emitted by mobile phones. Waves would trigger tattoos to generate “perceivable stimulus” to alert them to calls, messages, or batteries running low.
INTERNET
Zynga buys OMGPOP
Social games star Zynga on Wednesday said it has bought the young company behind a playful “Draw Something” application that rocketed in popularity in recent weeks. Unofficial estimates valued the deal at approximately US$200 million. OMGPOP and its 40-person team will become Zynga’s New York office.
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