AUTOMAKERS
VW broke law in 20 states
The European Commission has found that Volkswagen (VW) broke consumer laws in 20 EU nations by cheating on emissions tests, German daily Die Welt reported, citing commission sources. Among them are the Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive — which prohibits companies from touting exaggerated environmental claims in their sales pitches — and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, both of which apply across the EU, the paper said. The commission said Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska has repeatedly invited Volkswagen to consider compensating consumers voluntarily, without an encouraging response, and that it was for national courts to determine whether consumers were legally entitled to compensation. To ensure consumers are treated fairly, Consumer Commissioner Vera Jourova had written to consumer associations across the EU to collect information, a spokeswoman said.
BANKING
Credit Suisse taps Zeller
Credit Suisse Group AG named SIX Group AG chairman Alexandre Zeller to lead the board of the bank’s Swiss subsidiary ahead of an initial public offering next year. Zeller, who is also to join the group’s board of directors, is to start on Oct. 1 after stepping down from his position at SIX, the entity that runs the Zurich stock exchange, Credit Suisse said in a statement yesterday. Peter Derendinger will also join the Swiss unit, as head of its risk committee. The unit is due to start operations within Credit Suisse in the fourth quarter, the bank said. “The board of directors of Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd will be joined by additional Swiss members from outside the bank who have extensive financial experience and are thoroughly familiar with the Swiss financial center,” the firm said in the statement.
BANKING
Abu Dhabi banks pick Bain
Bain & Co has been appointed to advise Abu Dhabi’s two biggest lenders as they merge into a US$175 billion regional powerhouse. The US consulting company was picked to help with the integration of National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) PJSC and First Gulf Bank PJSC, an NBAD spokesman confirmed after two people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg of the firm’s role. The people asked not to be identified because the information is private. Credit Suisse Group AG had earlier advised NBAD and UBS Group AG was working with First Gulf Bank on the deal’s financial terms. National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank said in July that they would merge to create a regional banking heavyweight to help boost lending and secure funding as the region grapples with a more than 50 percent drop in oil prices over the past two years.
ENERGY
Woodside, BHP reach deal
Woodside Petroleum Ltd agreed to pay as much as US$400 million for half of BHP Billiton Ltd’s interest in the Scarborough gas field off Western Australia as part of a drive to boost its reserves. Woodside will acquire a 50 percent interest in the WA-62-R permit and a 25 percent interest in the WA-1-R permit operated by ExxonMobil Corp, according to a statement yesterday. The Perth-based producer will also take over the operation of the WA-62-R permit and get a 50 percent interest in the Jupiter and Thebe gas fields named as the WA-61-R and WA-63-R permits. The deal will take Woodside’s net share of the Scarborough assets, 300km offshore, to an estimated 73.6 million cubic meters of gas out of a total resource of about 246 million cubic meters.
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