■BANKS
Citigroup plans bonuses
Citigroup Inc could pay commercial and investment banking bonuses for last year that are similar to 2008 levels, and may cap individual cash payouts at about US$60,000, according to people that have been briefed on the plan. Some details of the bonus plans are still being ironed out, and the payouts will vary across businesses and countries, people said. But many employees have been briefed about the likely shape of their bonuses, which are set to be paid out in coming weeks. According to a July report from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Citigroup as a whole paid US$5.3 billion of bonuses for 2008. For last year, Citigroup is likely to pay up to 40 percent of bonuses in the form of deferred cash and stock, sources said. Citigroup declined to comment.
■AUTOMOBILES
Bosch to close parts factory
German engineering giant Bosch said it was set to close a British car parts factory with the loss of 900 jobs, blaming the economic downturn, which has hit the automotive industry hard. The division in charge of the plant near Cardiff, Wales, will recommend to the firm’s board that production be phased out at the factory, which makes alternators for the motor industry. A consultation period runs to the end of next month so all involved can agree terms for the phase-out of production before a final confirmation from the board. Bosch, the latest in a long line of automotive firms caught up in the fierce global downturn, said on Thursday demand for the alternator had dropped dramatically and the firm was on track to make its first loss for six decades. A union representative described the news as a “terrible blow” for hundreds of workers.
■AID
IMF prepares aid package
The IMF said on Thursday it had reached tentative agreement on a US$2.35 billion aid package for Jamaica, hit hard by the global financial crisis. IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said fund staff and the Jamaican authorities reached agreement on Thursday on an economic program supported by a US$1.25 billion loan under a 27-month stand-by arrangement. The program could go to the IMF executive board for approval “in the next few weeks, pending some prior actions to be taken by the Jamaican government,” he said in a statement. Approval of the program was expected to catalyze about US$1.1 billion in funding from other international financial institutions, he said. Among key elements of the program were a fiscal consolidation strategy to streamline expenditure and reform the public sector and a debt management strategy to reduce the government’s interest bill and a reform, the statement said.
■UNITED STATES
Bernanke takes on Senate
US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke waged a fresh battle against Senate efforts to strip the Fed from banking supervision. Bernanke, in a paper to Congress released on Thursday, argued that stripping the Fed of such power would deprive the central bank of information that factors into the setting of interest rates to influence overall economic activity. During the most recent financial crisis, information from banking supervisors helped Fed officials better understand the depths of credit problems, leading them to lower interest rates more quickly and aggressively than they otherwise would, the paper said. Information on the health of banks will factor into Fed decisions about when to start boosting interest rates and reeling in other stimulus to prevent inflation from taking off, it said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from