BANKING
FSC fines seven banks
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday imposed heavy fines of between NT$4 million and NT$6 million (US$126,159 and US$189,239) to seven domestic banks for lax oversight of overseas services. The banks had helped establish overseas banking unit (OBU) accounts without performing adequate “know your customer” checks, which has led to massive losses for clients who invested in high-risk derivatives, the commission said. The banks also actively advised clients on risky investments and helped them prepare financial statements to meet OBU account requirements to pad their earnings, the commission said. The seven banks have also been barred from selling high-risk derivatives products until internal controls have been improved, it said. The commission is also to investigate bonuses paid on OBU business expansions. The regulator also fined First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) NT$10 million for security vulnerabilities that exposed the company to an automated teller machine heist in July.
ECONOMY
SMEs grow to all-time high
The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan reached an all-time high of 1.38 million last year, accounting for 97.69 percent of total firms, a 2.29 percent increase from 2014, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ latest white paper on SMEs released yesterday. A total of 98,320 new SMEs were established last year, up by 4.43 percent from 2014, mainly wholesale and retail businesses such as online clothing and electronics vendors, the white paper said. Economics officials attributed the increase to the government’s efforts in recent years to promote innovative start-ups and the integration of traditional brick-and-mortar and virtual business models that makes starting a business easier. However, SME sales last year totaled NT$11.80 trillion, down from NT$11.84 trillion in 2014, it showed.
STOCK MARKETS
TAIEX falls on profit-taking
Shares in Taiwan yesterday ended slightly lower as investors pocketed gains from earlier in the day, pushing the weighted index into negative territory by the end of the session amid lingering concerns over more foreign fund outflows, dealers said. The bellwether electronics sector closed mixed, but Largan Precision Co (大立光), a smartphone camera lens supplier to Apple Inc, staged a strong technical rebound from a slump a day earlier on the back of bargain hunting, which lent support to the broader market, the dealers said. The TAIEX closed down 6.23 points, or 0.07 percent, at 8,940.83, after moving between 8,885.55 and 9,014.75, on turnover of NT$77.82 billion.
ELECTRICITY
Taipower to maintain rates
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is to maintain electricity rates unchanged at NT$2.5488 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) between next month and April next year, a reflection of the minimal change in power generation costs the company forecast for the next six months, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. The ministry said Taipower previously planned to reduce average electricity rates by 0.09 percent, or NT$0.0024 per kWh, due to a slight decline in forecast power generation costs. However, as the price cut would be insignificant, an electricity rate review committee decided to keep rates unchanged, the ministry said. The policy is to take effect on Oct. 1, it said.
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],”