No takers for bankrupt bank
The operations, assets and liabilities of the bankrupt Kaohsiung Business Bank (高雄企銀) failed to be sold by the government for the second time after bidding fell short of the reserve price, the Ministry of Finance's Central Deposit Insurance Corp (中央存保) said. Inviting bids for the second time this week, the government received only one offer from Waterland Financial Holdings (國票金控), said Wang Nan-hua (王南華), executive vice president at Central Deposit Insurance Corp. The sale, first suggested in June, was delayed until this month because of legal matters. Potential bidders such as Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), which showed interest initially, have expanded their businesses since then through other means, Wang said. Chinatrust Financial, the nation's fourth-largest financial services company by market value, bought rival Grand Commercial Bank (萬通銀行) in July through a share-swap. Central Deposit Insurance, which is helping to supervise the failed lender, is planning to hold a new auction in March, Wang said. Kaohsiung Bank has been in government custody since January last year.
Money supply up 5.6 percent
Taiwan's money supply grew 5.6 percent in the year to last month, after reporting its fastest growth in two years in October, the central bank said. Overseas inflows dropped, causing a slowdown last month, the central bank said in a statement. M2, the broadest measure of the money supply, expanded 5.7 percent in October compared to a year ago. Taiwan's M1B money supply, which excludes time deposits and foreign-currency deposits included in the M2 money supply, rose 19.1 percent last month.
SMIC wins Elpida contract
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際集成電路) will make memory chips next year for Elpida Memory Inc, a joint venture between Japan's Hitachi Ltd and NEC Corp. SMIC will make dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips designed by Elpida starting from the fourth quarter of next year, Tokyo-based Elpida said in a statement. The contract is effective for five years from the date the Chinese company starts production. The chips' line width will be 0.10 microns, Japan's only chip memory maker said. The output volume is yet to be decided. Elpida last week announced it suspended talks with Taiwan's ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) to outsource memory chip production because the two companies failed to agree on terms.
Chinese tourists a plus: Siew
Allowing Chinese tourists to enter Taiwan would inject new life into the domestic tourism industry, said Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), the chief presidential economic advisor, on Wednesday. Siew, the chairman of the Chunghua Institute for Economic Research, together with other economic advisors, is scheduled to meet President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) today. At that meeting, the advisors are expected to brief the president on strategies promoting domestic tourism. These include the development of educational and training programs at institutes of higher learning, Siew said.
NT dollar gains more ground
The New Taiwan dollar was higher against the greenback yesterday, rising NT$0.011 to close at NT$34.045 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$256 million.
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