STOCK MARKET
China selects supervisor
China appointed banking veteran Yi Huiman (易會滿) as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, people familiar with the matter said. People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Deputy Governor Zhu Hexin (朱鶴新) is to replace Yi as chairman at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC, 中國工商銀行), the people said. Yi, 54, is to take over from commission chairman Liu Shiyu (劉士餘), who ran the commission for three years, they said.
AVIATION
Tan denies stock sale to ANA
Billionaire Lucio Tan (陳永栽), who controls Philippine Airlines Inc, denied reports about a forthcoming stake sale days after ANA Holdings Inc confirmed that it is in talks with the carrier’s listed parent, PAL Holdings Inc. There is “no plan” to sell, Tan, 84, said in an interview on the sidelines of a central bank event in Manila on Friday. News that a stake sale is coming is “just a rumor,” he said when asked about talks with ANA, declining to elaborate.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford CEO not satisfied
Ford Motor Co chief executive Jim Hackett called Ford’s performance last year “mediocre by any standard” in an e-mail to employees late on Thursday, a source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Yes, we made US$7 billion last year,” Hackett wrote. “But think of it this way: This represents a 4.4 percent operating margin, about half what we believe is an appropriate margin. So we are aiming for much closer to US$14 billion.”
BRANDS
Kering might owe back taxes
Kering SA, the French owner of the Gucci luxury brand, owes about 1.4 billion euros (US$1.60 billion) to Italy in back taxes, according to the conclusions of a government audit. The probe scrutinized business activities by Kering’s Swiss subsidiary, Luxury Goods International, from 2011 through 2017, the company said in a statement. Kering said it contests the findings of the Italian audit. The auditor’s report is to be reviewed by the Italian Agency of Revenue, which is to reach a final conclusion.
DEVELOPERS
Indian firm to pick auditor
India’s beleaguered Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd could appoint an auditor to look into the financial statements of the company and its subsidiaries dating back five years, the Economic Times reported, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. The newly appointed company would also scrutinize the role of the firms’ previous auditors, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG.
GREECE
IMF bullish on GDP growth
The IMF on Friday said that it is optimistic on Greece’s growth and employment prospects for this year, but urged the government to stick to reforms to maintain the momentum. In a report published following five-day talks with officials in Athens, IMF officials said that the battered Greek economy is set to grow 2.4 percent this year, up from 2.1 percent last year. The report also argued that the heavily indebted country’s medium-term ability to repay its creditors — mostly its European partners and the IMF — remains “robust.”
DAMAGE REPORT: Global central banks are assessing war-driven inflation risks as the law of unintended consequences careens around the world, spiking oil prices Central banks from Washington to London and from Jakarta to Taipei are about to make their first assessments of economic damage after more than two weeks of conflict between the US and Iran. Decisions this week encompassing every member of the G7 and eight of the world’s 10 most-traded currency jurisdictions are likely to confirm to investors that the specter of a new inflation shock is already worrying enough to prompt heightened caution. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to do exactly what everyone anticipated weeks ahead of its March 17-18 policy gathering: hold rates steady. The narrative surrounding that
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) share of the global foundry market rose to almost 70 percent last year amid booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI), market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Thursday. The contract chipmaker posted US$122.54 billion in revenue, up 36.1 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 69.9 percent of the global market, TrendForce said. Its share was up from 64.4 percent in 2024, it said. TSMC’s closest rival, Samsung Electronics, was a distant second, posting US$12.63 billion in sales, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, for a 7.2 percent share of the global market. In the
At a massive shipyard in North Vancouver, Canadian workers grind metal beams for a powerful new icebreaker crucial to cementing the country’s presence in the increasingly contested arctic. Icebreakers are specialized, expensive vessels able to navigate in the frozen far north. And “this is the crown jewel,” said Eddie Schehr, vice president of production at the Seaspan shipyard. For Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who heads to Norway next Friday to observe arctic defense drills involving troops from 14 NATO states, Canada’s extreme north has emerged as a strategic priority. “Canada is and forever will be an Arctic nation,” he said ahead of
Chinese entrepreneur Frank Gao used to spend long hours running his social media accounts but now outsources the chore to artificial intelligence (AI) agent tool OpenClaw, which is taking China by storm despite official warnings over cybersecurity. OpenClaw, created in November by an Austrian coder, differs from bots such as ChatGPT because it can execute real-life tasks such as sending e-mails, organizing files or even booking flight tickets. “Since January, I’ve spent hours on the lobster every day,” Gao said in an interview, referring to OpenClaw’s red crustacean mascot. “We’re family.” After downloading OpenClaw, users connect it to artificial intelligence models of their
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