■BANKING
Fortis expects US$29bn loss
Belgian bank Fortis said on Sunday it “expects” to report a record loss of 22.5 billion euros (US$29 billion) for last year, when the world financial crisis drove it to be nationalized and sold off. “That means there is no room for the payment of a dividend at the moment,” Fortis Holding said in a statement. It said it would publish full results for last year on March 31. Fortis Holding was formed last year when the damage wrought by the US-born international credit crisis forced it to be split up, with the Belgian and Dutch states taking control of its operations in those two countries. Belgium has since been negotiating to sell Fortis’ Belgian operations to the French bank BNP Paribas.
■BANKING
Pension funds to sue RBS
British pension funds are to sue Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for compensation for “massive losses” incurred when the bank had to be bailed out and the share price collapsed, the Times reported yesterday. Two local government funds claim that RBS and former chief executive Fred Goodwin “falsely reassured” investors the bank was in good health when it was “effectively insolvent” because of bad loans, the Times said. RBS is 70 percent state-owned after taking £20 billion (US$28 billion) of government funds as it struggled to cope with the global financial crisis. Last month it posted Britain’s biggest ever corporate loss. The Times reported that the two funds had hired Cherie Blair, the lawyer wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair who works under the name Cherie Booth, to file the lawsuit in a New York court.
■BANKING
No need for bailout: HSBC
HSBC’s finance chief said the banking giant would not require a British government bailout even if economic conditions in Britain or the US worsen, the South China Morning Post said in a report yesterday. Douglas Flint, the chief financial officer of HSBC holdings, said the company’s recently announced rights issue would provide more than enough capital, the report said. “The US$17.7 billion we are raising seemed to be an amount that made us extremely robust in any set of circumstances we could foresee,” the Post quoted him as saying. Flint said HSBC would not have to follow Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland into taxpayer-funded bailouts. “We are in a totally different position. We were one of the few banks in the world that were profitable last year. It is unthinkable,” he told the paper.
■INTERNET
Bebo offers more languages
Social networking Web site Bebo yesterday announced the launch of five new European-language versions, its first major expansion outside the English-speaking world. Owned by America Online, Bebo claims to have more than 22 million users worldwide, almost half of them in Britain. Until now Bebo was available only in English and in Polish, compared with the 40 language versions offered by market leader Facebook. Users can now choose French, German, Italian, Spanish or Dutch. “We think there are lot of opportunities in the Western European market, both for user potential and for monetization,” Bebo international vice president Nicole Vanderbildt said. “International expansion is a key part of our growth strategy,” she said, adding that Bebo had “very ambitious plans” for the European market. Once a niche for teenagers and technophiles, social networking has exploded into the mainstream, with industry research suggesting more people logged on to membership community Web sites than e-mail services in December.
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
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
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
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source