FINANCE
Credit card numbers rise
As of the end of January, the number of credit cards in circulation in Taiwan reached 41.87 million, up by 140,000 from the end of December, with 28.17 million effective cards, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Thursday. Credit card spending in January increased NT$18.1 billion (US$619.2 million) from the previous month to NT$248.3 billion, thanks to consumer shopping ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday and financial institutions’ promotion of e-payment services, the FSC said. The balance of revolving credit stood at NT$112.2 billion in January and the amount of undue balance of installment was NT$110 billion, up NT$1.1 billion and NT$2.4 billion from December respectively, it said.
CHEMICALS
Swancor proposes dividends
Materials manufacturer and wind farm developer Swancor Holding Co Ltd (上緯投控) yesterday said its board passed a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2 per share. If approved at the annual general meeting, that would represent a payout ratio of 81.3 percent based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$2.46. The Nantou County-based company posted NT$219 million in net profit last year, surging 323.56 percent year-on-year, while revenue grew 191.1 percent to NT$4.91 billion. However, gross margin declined 3.14 percentage points to 21.2 percent and operating margin dropped 7.56 percentage points to 4.43 percent, it said.
TECHNOLOGY
Chang Wah has record profit
Chang Wah Technology Co Ltd (長華科技), which supplies pre-mold metal lead frames and other LED-related products, yesterday reported strong financial results, citing an operational synergy following its acquisition of SH Asia Pacific Pte of Singapore. The company posted a record net profit of NT$431 million for last year, up more than 8.5 times from 2016, or earnings per share of NT$14.62. Revenue totaled NT$672.19 billion last year, compared with NT$45.62 billion a year ago. The firm’s board passed a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$11.5 per share, equivalent to a payout ratio of 78.66 percent.
ENERGY
FPCC, Nikkiso team up
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC, 台塑石化), the nation’s only listed oil refiner, is teaming up with Tokyo-listed Nikkiso Co Ltd to develop ultraviolet LED products that can sterilize containers and air purifiers, it said in a statement issued on Thursday. The company’s board has approved a plan to invest about ¥3.6 billion (US$33.82 million) to establish a subsidiary responsible for its UV LED business, the company said, without providing a timetable. Formosa Petrochemical said the board also agreed to issue corporate bonds of no more than NT$6 billion and would use the proceeds to replenish its operating capital.
INSURANCE
AI helping claims: Fubon
Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險) on Thursday said that its investment in automation and artificial intelligence has begun to bear fruit,with significantly faster claims assessment and processing for health and personal accident insurance policies. The insurer said its processing time was cut by between three and seven days, with some customers receiving their payment on the same day they filed. The insurer has set a goal to raise the proportion of machine-processed claims from 60 percent to 80 percent, it said. However, high-risk claims are flagged by the system to be processed by experienced staff to prevent fraud, it said.
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