■ Banking
Citibank Korea probed
South Korea's financial watchdog said yesterday it has been investigating Citibank Korea Inc over derivatives trading losses worth more than 10 billion won (US$10.2 million). "After our regular inspection in October revealed derivatives-related losses that looked necessary for further investigation, we launched an extraordinary probe early December to find the cause of the losses and whether the trading activities were properly managed,'' said a Financial Supervisory Service official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. Citibank Korea declined to comment, saying it is checking the matter. Last year, the regulator's investigation also found that the South Korean unit of Citibank had reaped gains by charging a higher fixed interest rate on mortgage products with a floating rate.
■ Aviation
Budget terminal finished
Asia's first terminal customized for low-cost carriers (LCCs) was completed at Singapore's Changi Airport yesterday and is capable of handling 2.7 million passengers annually when flights start in March. The 25,000m2 facility, constructed at a cost of S$45 million (US$27 million), has a departure and arrival hall linked by a covered walkway. Space has been set aside for food and beverage outlets as well as free Internet terminals. Commercial operations start on March 26. "LCCs today account for approximately 10 percent of Changi Airport's total passenger flights, and will be a high-growth segment of the civil aviation sector in the Asia-Pacific region in the coming years," Minister of Transport Yeo Cheow Tong said.
■ Investing
HK plans tax break
Hong Kong expects to approve a legislation exempting offshore funds from paying profit tax by March in a move aimed at luring foreign investors to set up operations in the Chinese territory, a top Hong Kong government official said yesterday. Frederick Ma, secretary for financial services and the treasury, said plans to abolish the 17.5 percent profit tax on offshore funds trading in Hong Kong securities would be a "big attraction" for foreign investors and help deepen liquidity in the stock market. "We are hoping this legislation will be passed in the first quarter of this year," he told reporters on the sidelines of an investors conference here. "This will put us at par, if not more favorable, with some financial centers like the UK and the US."
■ Medical devices
Boston Scientific makes bid
Boston Scientific confirmed Sunday as "definitive" its offer to take over medical device producer Guidant valuing the company at US$25 billion, or US$72 a share. Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific, also a medical device producer, insisted its offer valued Guidant at more than US$3 billion above a rival offer by Johnson and Johnson, which Guidant shareholders are to vote on at the end of this month. If its bid of US$36 in cash and US$36 in Boston Scientific shares for each Guidant share is accepted, the takeover would create a US$10 billion company, Boston Scientific said. The company also said that it had in hand an agreement to sell Guidant's vascular intervention and endovascular businesses to medical giant Abbott, a move needed to secure antitrust approval for the acquisition.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft