Cathay expresses optimism
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) expressed optimism on Saturday over the nation’s economic outlook despite recent negative government indicators and forecasts.
“The economy will recover as the uncertainty over the global market lifts,” Tsai Hong-tu (蔡宏圖), the company’s chairman, said on the sidelines of a ceremony in Taipei celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary.
The recent negative indicators show that the economy is “experiencing a business cycle,” Tsai said, adding that if the eurozone debt crisis improves, “the atmosphere and people’s psychological factor will also improve.”
The group launched a three-year project in May aimed at strengthening its internal communications and operation procedures to keep its competitiveness, but Tsai declined to provide further details.
Ministry seeks new chairman
The Ministry of Finance is scrambling to find a new chairman for the Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓公司) after its chairman Harace Lin (林鴻明) was taken into custody by prosecutors on Thursday in connection with an old fraud case.
Lin’s arrest came on the eve of a meeting of the company’s board of directors in which he was bidding for re-election with the support of directors representing the government, which owns a 44 percent stake in the company.
Caught off guard by Lin’s detention, the ministry moved quickly to block Friday’s board meeting by telling government representatives on the board and other friendly shareholders not to attend.
Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said on Friday that a suitable candidate will be found as soon as possible.
Plant blast sparks diaper fears
An explosion at a large Japanese chemical plant has sparked fears of a global shortage of disposable diapers, a media report said yesterday.
A tank at chemical producer Nippon Shokubai’s factory in Himeji city, Hyogo Prefecture, exploded on Saturday, killing a firefighter and injuring 35 other emergency service workers who responded to a callout, the fire service said.
The company has a 20 percent global share of superabsorbent polymer, which is used in the production of diapers, the Sankei Shimbun said.
If the operation of the factory is suspended for a long time, it could affect production of disposable diapers, the newspaper said.
Acer technology used in bikes
Acer Inc (宏碁) said its high-performance computing server had been used to aid design and simulation in bicycle manufacturing for Velocite Bikes, a Taiwanese maker of bikes and components.
The PC vendor said in a statement on Friday that Velocite CEO Victor Major used an Acer AT350 F2 server to demonstrate the air flow in Velocite’s latest bike frame at the Cycle Show trade fair in the UK.
The AT350 F2 server allowed design improvements to be made during simulation to save time and costs, the statement said.
Department plans seminar
The Department of Investment Services under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Saturday it has scheduled a seminar this month to provide information to help the local service sector penetrate the huge China market.
The department said the seminar will be held at the Taipei International Convention Center on Oct. 12.
In the first eight months of this year, Taiwan’s investments in China totaled US$7.2 billion, down 25.08 percent from a year earlier, while China’s investments in Taiwan rose more than 300 percent from a year earlier to US$135.54 million, according to the Investment Commission.
China may adjust regulations
China may adjust the reserve requirements for banks to stimulate the economy if government statistics released tomorrow show that the manufacturing sector is weakening, according to Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.
“The policy window is still open,” Liu Li-gang (劉利剛), chief China economist at ANZ in Hong Kong, said in an interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corp yesterday.
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