BANKING
Shanghai branch for bank
Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), the banking arm of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), announced yesterday that it would open an outlet in Shanghai’s free-trade zone on Friday, making it the first Taiwanese bank to establish a presence in the zone. The bank said the sub-branch would not face any limits on lending to finance cross-border trade activity conducted inside the zone and would be allowed to freely exchange Chinese yuan and foreign currencies.
DOT COMS
Online trader eyes 518.com
Addcn Technology Co Ltd (數字科技), which operates online trading platforms for selling cars, houses, clothing and virtual treasures, said on Tuesday that it plans to buy 518 Technology Co Ltd (五一八網路科技), a company that runs recruitment Web site www.518.com.tw, for NT$250 million (US$8.34 million) in cash. The company is aiming to build up its online service business and competitiveness, Addcn Technology general manager Ason Wu (吳聰賢) said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
CURRENCIES
UK talks on yuan deposits
National Development Council Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) said on Tuesday that Taiwan’s high Chinese yuan deposits have attracted the UK government’s attention. Kuan, who recently returned from a trip to the UK along with other officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Supervisory Commission, said the two sides could forge more cooperation in yuan business and other financial areas. As of the end of last month, yuan-denominated deposits in Taiwan’s banking system totaled 292.74 billion yuan (US$47.17 billion), up 0.92 percent from the previous month, the central bank said.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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