Liquidity rules tightened
To enhance risk management, local banks must report liquidity coverage ratios to the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) and the central bank on a monthly basis starting on Jan. 1, the commission said in a statement yesterday.
In line with international standards, Taiwanese banks will have to maintain a liquidity coverage ratio of at least 60 percent beginning next year, the commission said, adding that the target ratio is to be raised by 10 percentage points each year, reaching 100 percent by 2019.
Banks with lower coverage ratios will be granted a grace period to improve their performance before the commission starts imposing fines, it said.
NT falls to seven-month low
The New Taiwan dollar has dropped to a seven-month low amid speculation of central bank intervention to weaken the currency and keep exports competitive with Japan and South Korea.
The NT dollar fell for a fourth day yesterday, dropping 0.2 percent to NT$30.538 against its US counterpart, just shy of its weakest level since March 31, Taipei Forex Inc data show.
“Taiwan and [South] Korea are among the biggest exporters in the region and they do compete in certain industries,” said Irene Cheung (張雅怡), a strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd in Singapore.
Cheung said the yen’s depreciation is leading to weakness in the won and the NT dollar. On Monday, the yen fell to a seven-year low, extending losses after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly added to its stimulus late last week.
Motech slips into red
Solar cell firm Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) yesterday reported a loss of NT$739 million (US$24.21 million) for last quarter after its gross margin fell into negative territory, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
That compares with a net profit of NT$27 million in the second quarter.
As pricing in the solar sector remained volatile, Motech reported gross losses of NT$532 million in the July-to-September quarter, compared with gross profits of NT$291 million a quarter ago.
Gross margin slid to minus-13.76 percent last quarter from 5.52 percent in the prior quarter, the filing showed.
Xiaomi said to seek funding
Xiaomi Corp (小米) is in talks for a funding round that values the smartphone maker at between US$40 billion and US$50 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
The discussions are at an early stage and nothing is finalized, the sources said.
The world’s No. 3 smartphone maker had a financing round in August last year that valued the company at US$10 billion.
Beijing-based Xiaomi declined to comment. The valuation surpasses more established Asian electronics manufacturers including Sony Corp, which has a market capitalization of about US$21 billion, and Lenovo Group Ltd’s (聯想) US$16 billion.
Canadian gelato eyes Asia
James Coleridge, a Vancouver-based frozen dessert manufacturer, is planning to expand outside North America by tapping Asia’s huge market, including Taiwan, the business Web site BCBusiness said.
BCBusiness said in a recent report that Coleridge is planning to open its first international outlet in Los Angeles and the next move is to bring its frozen treats to several Asian markets, such as Taiwan and Singapore.
BCBusiness called Coleridge “the best-known gelato maker” in Vancouver.
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