■BANKING
Commerzbank asks for cash
Commerzbank, the second-biggest German bank, took the plunge and said yesterday that it would ask the government for 8.2 billion euros (US$10.5 billion) in cash and 15 billion euros more in debt guarantees. Commerzbank also posted a third-quarter net loss of 285 million euros and an operating loss of 475 million euros. The international financial crisis cost the bank 1.1 billion euros in losses from market operations, the statement said. Commerzbank said it had increased loan loss provisions to 628 million euros from 414 million euros, a sign the bank expects more turbulence in the future.
■BANKING
BPN to be nationalized
Portugal is planning to nationalize the troubled Banco Portugues de Negocios (BPN) in yet another rescue of a financial institution, Portuguese Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos announced on Sunday at the end of a special Cabinet session. The government of Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates is to propose the nationalization before parliament, the finance minister said. BPN recently reported loses of 700 million euros and finds itself on the edge of bankruptcy, dos Santos said, adding that there were no prospects of the bank acquiring new reserves of liquidity any time soon.
■TECHNOLOGY
Hynix debt rating cut
Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, had its debt rating cut to three levels below investment grade at Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the company’s weaker credit profile and earnings. Hynix’s corporate family and senior unsecured bond ratings were cut to Ba3 from Ba2, affecting about US$500 million in debt securities, Moody’s said in a statement yesterday. Moody’s has a negative outlook on the ratings. The downgrade brings Hynix’s ratings at Moody’s in line with those assigned at Standard & Poor’s, which last week changed the outlook on the South Korean chip maker’s debt to negative. Hynix on Oct. 30 reported its biggest loss in at least seven years after a glut drove down prices of computer memory chips.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Economy to shrink next year
The economy will shrink for the first time since 1991 next year and debt will surge to more than 60 percent of GDP as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown ramps up spending, European Commission forecasts showed. The economy will contract 1 percent after expanding 0.9 percent this year, the EU’s executive arm said in a report published in Brussels yesterday. It will grow 0.4 percent in 2010. Debt will be 50.1 percent of GDP this year, 55.1 percent next year and 60.3 percent in 2010, the commission said. Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Alistair Darling signaled last week they would abandon a decade-old pledge to limit debt to 40 percent of GDP as they try to ease the effects of a likely recession on consumers and companies.
■METALS
Demand outstrips supply
China, the world’s largest consumer of aluminum, may need four times as much scrap aluminum as can be produced domestically, the China National Resources Recycling Association said. Scrap aluminum consumption may grow 25 percent to 11.8 million tonnes next year, whereas domestic output may rise by a similar rate to 3.3 million tonnes, the association said yesterday at a conference in Shanghai.
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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