FINANCE
Hua Nan to offer 400+ jobs
Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控) on Thursday said that its subsidiaries are to offer more than 400 employment opportunities as part of the conglomerate’s overall expansion plan. Hua Nan Financial said that its banking arm, Hun Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), is to seek 396 new employees, while other subsidiaries such as Hun Nan Investment Trust Co (華南永昌投信), Hua Nan Asset Management Co (華南管理顧問) and HNCB Insurance Agency (華銀保險), will be looking to recruit more than 10 employees. Hua Nan Financial said that Hua Nan Bank will focus on performance rather the seniority as its criteria for promoting new workers. It added that new employees will have the chance to work at different divisions across the nation or go to overseas offices to bolster their work experience.
TRADE
Taiwan’s export ranking falls
The nation’s global ranking in merchandise exports fell two notches to 20th last year from a year earlier, according to a WTO report released on Monday last week. Last year, Taiwan’s trade in merchandise grew 1 percent year-on-year, higher than Singapore’s zero percent growth, but lower than South Korea’s 2 percent and eclipsed by Hong Kong’s 9 percent growth. The nation was leapfrogged in the rankings by Spain and India, which placed 18th and 19th respectively. In terms of merchandise imports, Taiwan’s ranking remained the same as in 2012 at 18th. In terms of commercial services exports, the nation’s global ranking dropped to 26th last year from 25th in the previous year, while its ranking in commercial services imports declined to No. 30 from No. 28 over the same period.
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