BANKING
Swiss to track EU citizens
Switzerland has signed a preliminary agreement with the EU that would make it much harder for the 28-nation bloc’s citizens to evade taxes by hiding money in Swiss vaults. The deal initialed in Brussels on Thursday envisages that both sides would start collecting bank account data on each other’s citizens from 2017 and begin exchanging that information a year later. The Swiss government said in a statement that the agreement “will make an important contribution to the prevention of tax evasion.”
MACROECONOMICS
Russia says inflation at peak
Inflation in Russia has hit a zenith of about 17 percent, Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev said on Thursday, as the economic crisis roiling the country takes its toll. “The peak in inflation has not passed but we have reached the highest point and will probably stay at this level for some time,” Ulyukayev was reported as saying by Russian news agencies. “I think that for quite a long time, a month and a half or two months it will be at around 17 percent.”
MACROECONOMICS
China to grow 7%: OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) yesterday forecast the Chinese economy would grow 7 percent this year. China’s economy has embarked on what its leaders have taken to calling the “new normal,” meaning that the growth trajectory is slowing, with more sustainable expansion based on a growing consumer class, as in other major countries. The organization predicts growth of 6.9 percent in China next year.
BANKING
Banco de Sabadell buys TSB
TSB Banking Group PLC, a division of Britain’s bailed-out lender Lloyds Banking Group, has accepted a £1.7 billion (US$2.51 billion) takeover from Spain’s Banco de Sabadell SA, the two banks said yesterday. The two lenders have agreed terms on the bid which was pitched at £0.34 per share they said in a statement. Lloyds, which is 23 percent state-owned after a bailout at the height of the global financial crisis, is to sell its remaining 50 percent stake in TSB, which it floated on the London stock market nine months ago.
GAMING
PlayStation on sale in China
Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp yesterday launched its PlayStation gaming console in China, where authorities impose strict controls on content, but some popular titles including Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty were not available. The launch of Sony’s PlayStation 4 consoles, originally planned for January, makes it the second foreign company in the Chinese gaming market after Microsoft Corp, which launched its Xbox One in September last year.
SPORTING GOODS
Nike profit beats estimates
Nike Inc, the world’s largest sporting-goods maker, posted third-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates, helped by demand in North America. Net income in the quarter ended Feb. 28 rose 16 percent to US$791 million, or US$0.89 per share, from US$682 million, or US$0.75 a year earlier, the Beaverton, Oregon-based company said on Thursday in a statement. The average of 27 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg was US$0.84.
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”