■ MINING
Ecuador axes concessions
Ecuador’s constitutional assembly on Friday approved a decree revoking most of the mining concessions in the country, following up on the leftist government’s pledge to take greater control over natural resources. The decision by the government-controlled assembly, which is writing a new constitution, suspended 3,100 of the 4,112 active concessions in Ecuador and 1,220 concession requests. Affected companies include Canada’s Aurelian Resources Inc, EcuaCorriente and Iamgold Corp. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, who is a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said the decree would not “impede future concessions, but rather, the current ones, the majority of which are awful.” “The current dilemma is not whether to say yes to mining, but to seek economically, socially and environmentally responsible mining,” he said in a presidential statement.
■ INVESTMENT
US bank raises US$5.88bn
US investment bank JPMorgan Chase quietly raised US$5.88 billion on Wednesday, the same day it published first-quarter earnings, a filing with the US market regulator showed. The capital infusion was neither mentioned in the bank’s earnings statement nor discussed by executives in its ensuing conference call. The document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed JPMorgan Chase issued preferred stock, which enjoys priority over common stock in the distribution of dividends and other assets. The shares are to pay a fixed dividend of 7.9 percent for 10 years, after which the rate floats.
■ BANKING
RBS expecting fresh losses
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Britain’s second-largest bank, is to announce around £4 billion (US$8 billion) in fresh losses linked to the credit crunch, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The report came after media said on Friday that the bank was set to ask shareholders for a massive cash boost after being hit by subprime-linked losses and surging costs related to its takeover of the ABN Amro bank. It points to the pressures currently facing some of the world’s largest financial institutions.
■ FOOD PRICES
Malaysia to lift production
Malaysia’s government said yesterday it would spend 4 billion ringgit (US$1.3 billion) to increase food production and tackle price hikes as the country faces spiraling global oil and food costs. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he would also set up a high-level anti-inflation committee to tackle these issues, state news agency Bernama reported. However, he did not say how the money would be allocated.
■ FINANCE
Fannie Mae officials to pay
Former Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines and two top executives have agreed to a US$31.4 million settlement with the government over their roles in a 2004 accounting scandal. Raines, the company’s former chief financial officer Timothy Howard and former controller Leanne Spencer were accused in a civil lawsuit of manipulating earnings over a six-year period at Fannie, the largest US financier and guarantor of home mortgages. None of the three acknowledged wrongdoing in the settlement announced on Friday. The amount agreed to under the settlement is far less than what the government was seeking when it sued the executives in December 2006, and it appeared little of the money would come out of their own pockets.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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