TURKEY
Regulator denies Iran fines
The Banking Supervision and Regulation Agency on Saturday urged the public to ignore rumors about financial institutions, in an apparent dismissal of a report that some Turkish banks face billions of dollars of US fines over alleged violations of Iran-sanctions. The regulator said in a statement that Turkey’s banks were functioning well. The Haberturk newspaper on Saturday reported that six banks potentially face substantial fines, citing senior banking sources. It did not name the banks. One bank faces a penalty in excess of US$5 billion, while the rest of the fines will be lower, it said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Profit warnings jump in Q3
The number of profit warnings issued by British companies jumped from 45 in the second quarter to 75 in the third quarter, the biggest quarterly rise in almost six years as economic pressures weighed on retailers and support service companies, business services group EY said yesterday. The spike is significantly ahead of the average of 62 in the third quarter, EY said. Retailer Dixons Carphone PLC and construction and support service firm Carillion PLC were two of the biggest companies to warn in the period.
CRIME
Israeli extradited for scam
A dual citizen of Israel and Russia has been extradited to the US to face charges in a money laundering case. Stanislav Nazarov is accused in a scheme to defraud a large reinsurance company in India. Prosecutors said the director of that company was duped through a cyberphishing scheme into wiring US$1.4 million to a bank account in the US. Nazarov then allegedly had a portion of that money transferred to him in Israel. His extradition was announced on Friday.
BANKING
Wells Fargo sees departures
Three high-level foreign exchange executives and a currency trader have left Wells Fargo & Co. The bank on Friday confirmed that the employees from the investment bank side of the business were no longer with the firm, but would not say if they were fired. The bank has been trying to move beyond problems in its consumer banking operations that have tarnished its brand. It has paid millions in fines and settlements.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Concordia eyes restructuring
Canadian drugmaker Concordia International Corp, stumbling under debt that it piled on during a takeover spree, is seeking to restructure its finances and cut borrowings by at least US$2 billion, after missing an interest payment on Monday on some unsecured bonds. Management is pursuing a plan under the Canada Business Corporations Act, according to a statement on Friday, which did not outline any potential terms of a deal, but said the company would continue making payments on its secured debt.
CONSUMER GOODS
Reckitt Benckiser to split
Reckitt Benckiser will split into two business units, the British consumer goods maker said on Wednesday, after a third-quarter fall in sales prompted it to cut its full-year forecast. The maker of Durex condoms, Nurofen tablets and Lysol disinfectants has struggled with fallout from a cyberattack, a failed product launch and a safety scandal in South Korea. Reckitt said third-quarter sales were £3.21 billion (US$4.23 billion), down 1 percent on a like-for-like basis.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure