EUROPEAN UNION
Banking union deal struck
Finance ministers on Wednesday reached a banking union accord which will hand Brussels unprecedented new powers to prevent failing banks from wrecking the bloc’s economy, official sources said. The Single Resolution Mechanism will close failing banks before they can damage the wider economy and, along with a new supervisory regime, forms the banking union. This was drawn up in response to the financial and debt crises that brought down many banks and nearly drove the eurozone to its knees as governments had to be bailed out after rescuing their lenders.
BANKING
Citigroup, AIA ink contract
Citigroup Inc has chosen AIA Group Ltd to sell life insurance through its branch network in 11 Asia-Pacific countries as the US bank slashes the number of insurers it partners with in the region. The exclusive 15-year agreement allows AIA to sell products to the US bank’s customers in countries from China to Australia, Citigroup and AIA said in separate statements yesterday. The partnerships will be set up in each territory next year, Hong Kong-based AIA said.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford stock hit by guidance
Ford Motor Co shares tumbled more than 6 percent on Wednesday after the company forecast disappointing profit for next year and said its mid-decade profit margin target was at risk. The company expects full-year pre-tax profit to come in at US$7 billion to US$8 billion next year, below the US$8.5 billion expected for this year. Most analysts were projecting profits to rise next year. Ford said earnings will be dragged down from the effects of an unusually busy schedule of new car launches next year that will cause higher startup costs and force lower prices on vehicles being phased out.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook, banks face suit
A US federal judge said Facebook Inc chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and dozens of banks must face a lawsuit accusing the social media company of misleading investors about its financial condition before its US$16 billion initial public offering last year. In a decision made public on Wednesday, US District Judge Robert Sweet in Manhattan said investors could pursue claims that Facebook omitted material information from its registration statement.
FINANCE
SAC manager convicted
A portfolio manager for one of the largest US hedge funds who was accused of using insider trading to boost sagging results in 2007 has been found guilty of all charges at a New York City trial. A jury in a Manhattan federal court issued the verdict for Michael Steinberg on Wednesday. Steinberg’s case was the first to result from the US’ crackdown on insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors. The Connecticut-based firm this month agreed to pay a record US$1.8 billion to settle insider trading charges.
SOFTWARE
Oracle Q3 income dips
Oracle’s net income for the three months ending last month edged down, hurt by flat revenue from new software licenses and cloud software subscriptions, but still beat Wall Street predictions. The business software maker earned US$2.55 billion, or US$0.56 per share, compared with US$2.58 billion, or US$0.53 per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Excluding charges, the firm posted an adjusted profit of US$0.69 per share for the recent quarter. Revenue rose 2 percent to US$9.28 billion from US$9.09 billion, it said.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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