■ Regulations
Brokerages investigated
US federal regulators are investigating more than a dozen major brokerage firms for possibly executing some stock trades in ways that favor the firms at the expense of their customers, people familiar with the matter said Monday. Examiners at the Securities and Exchange Commission discovered the trading patterns -- in which the brokerages apparently failed to obtain the best available stock price for customers -- and notified the agency's enforcement attorneys about two weeks ago, two people said, confirming a report Monday in The New York Times. They spoke on condition of anonymity. In an investigation described as preliminary, the SEC examiners also formally notified the firms of the problems, according to these people. They include Ameritrade, E-Trade Financial, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab.
■ Display industry
LG moves into No. 2 spot
LG Electronics Inc of South Korea overtook Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co as the world's second-largest maker of plasma display panels during the third quarter, a researcher said. LG increased shipments in the three months ended Sept. 30 by 20 percent from the second quarter, to 192,892 panels, raising the Seoul-based company's market share to 21.5 percent from 19.6 percent, Displaybank said in an e-mailed statement. Matsushita, which sells products under the Panasonic brand, had an unchanged 21.1 percent market share after shipments rose 9.2 percent, the researcher said.
■ Insurance
Marsh ousts executives
Two top executives of scandal-tarred insurance firm Marsh Inc have been ousted, the company said, the latest casualties of an industry probe by New York's attorney general. Roger Egan, president and chief operating officer of Marsh, and Christopher Treanor, chairman and chief executive of the firm's global placement business, were "asked to step down from their positions" Monday, the company said. "These management decisions were difficult and were not based on any suggestion of culpability," Michael Cherkasky, president and CEO of the firm's parent company, Marsh & McLennan Cos, said in a written release. "However, at the end of the day, Mr. Egan and Mr. Treanor were accountable for the areas of the business that have been the focus of investigations ... and, therefore, we thought it was appropriate to make these changes."
■ Semiconductors
Infineon reports turnaround
German semiconductor company Infineon AG reported yesterday that it returned to the black in fiscal 2004 after three straight money-losing years amid a general recovery in the world chip market, but warned of a slowdown ahead. Infineon chief executive Wolfgang Ziebart said the company is "not satisfied" with the earnings, which came to 61 million euros (US$78.9 million) in the year ending Sept. 30. He cited costs from negative antitrust rulings for having cut into profits. The figure posed a nearly one-half billion euro turnaround after Infineon had lost 435 million euros in fiscal 2003. The final earnings figure came after Infineon managed a 44- million-euro profit in the last quarter through Sept. 30, falling far short of many analysts' forecasts of a fourth-quarter earnings of some 145 million euros.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2