BANKING
Bank fees to be reduced
Turkey is to lower the fees banks earn on their customers’ transactions, as policymakers urge lenders to focus on expanding credit. The changes, published yesterday in the Official Gazette, dramatically cut down the number and types of commissions banks can charge retail and commercial clients. The regulations have been made in response to client complaints, such as overcharging and a lack of transparency, the central bank said. The changes are to take effect on March 1.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla might receive grants
Tesla Inc could get state subsidies in its plan to set up a gigafactory in Germany, German Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said. “In my conversations with [Tesla CEO] Elon Musk I have always made clear that there are no privileges, but also no discrimination,” Altmaier said in an interview. To qualify for state subsidies companies need to fulfill certain requirements in the areas of sustainability and battery efficiency, Altmaier said. “All companies that fulfill these criteria have a chance to be supported — including Tesla,” he said.
INSURANCE
Firms talk PartnerRe sale
French insurer Covea is in advanced talks with the Agnelli family’s Exor NV to buy the Italian company’s reinsurance business PartnerRe for about US$9 billion in cash, people familiar with the discussions said. Covea approached Exor with an offer for the Bermuda-based reinsurer and is in exclusive talks with the holding company that also controls Fiat Chrysler NV and Ferrari NV, the people said. Exor and Covea confirmed the exclusive discussions. Talks “are ongoing and there is no certainty that they will result in a transaction,” Exor said in a statement.
ARGENTINA
No payment for IMF: VP
Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Saturday said that the government would not pay “even half a cent” of its debt back to the IMF before the country has exited recession. “The first thing we have to do in order to be able to pay is to exit the recession,” Fernandez said at a presentation of her book Sinceramente at Havana’s international book fair. “If there is a recession, no one will pay even half a cent and the way you exit recession is through a lot of state investment.”
MINING
BHP delays shipments
BHP Group Ltd, the world’s top miner, is in talks with Chinese customers to delay shipments of copper concentrates, as the nation extended plant shutdowns to combat the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus, people familiar with the matter said. Suppliers are considering giving buyers in China flexibility on deliveries to discourage them from declaring force majeure, offering them a way out of contractual obligations, the people said. In Chile, miners are already working with clients to defer cargoes.
HONG KONG
HSBC offers liquidity relief
Businesses are set to benefit from more than HK$30 billion (US$3.86 billion) in liquidity relief offered by HSBC Holdings PLC to support firms as a novel coronavirus weighs on the economy. Measures include a principal repayment moratorium for borrowers with commercial loans secured by property, as well as those with taxi and public minibus loans, HSBC said in a statement on Sunday. Trade finance customers could also apply for access to an overdraft of up to HK$10 million for six months to help with daily operational needs, the bank said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last