BANKING
Goldman fires trader
Goldman Sachs Group Inc dismissed currency trader Frank Cahill over alleged behavior during his time at HSBC Holdings PLC, according to a person briefed on the matter. Cahill, who joined Goldman Sachs in London in 2012, was identified internally as one participant in transcripts made public as part of HSBC’s settlement with US and UK regulators, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Cahill is the first trader Goldman Sachs has dismissed related to currency-market investigations, the person said. HSBC agreed to pay US$618 million as part of US$4.3 billion in settlements between six banks and four regulators over probes into the rigging of key foreign-exchange benchmarks.
BANKING
ANZ suspends seven
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) suspended seven traders amid an investigation by regulators into whether market participants tried to influence Australia’s bank-bill swap rate, the equivalent of the London interbank offered rate. ANZ’s internal review and the investigation by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission “may not be complete for some time,” the bank said in a statement yesterday. Since mid-2012, the commission has probed possible manipulation of Australia’s benchmark, or BBSW, rates by 14 banks that contributed prices to the rate-setting process.
INVESTMENT
Mitsui enters Hollywood
Mitsui & Co, Japan’s No. 2 general-trading company, is venturing in to Hollywood with a minority stake in a media company incubator. Mitsui, based in Tokyo, is investing in Los Angeles-based FactoryMade Ventures, the firm that helped create the English-language El Rey Network with director Robert Rodriguez, according to a statement yesterday. They are also to forge a strategic alliance to develop TV shows, Web series and movies. Financial terms were not available. The deal with FactoryMade follows another Japanese investment in Hollywood — Softbank Corp’s US$250 million for a minority stake in Godzilla producer Legendary Entertainment. Mitsui’s media investments include Kids Station, a TV network in Japan.
ECONOMY
Indonesia raises rates
Indonesia’s central bank raised interest rates on Tuesday for the first time in a year in anticipation of surging inflation after the new government increased the price of subsidized fuel by more than 30 percent. At a special meeting called after the price increase, Bank Indonesia raised its key rate by 25 basis points to 7.75 percent, the first increase since November last year and its highest level for more than five years. Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced the reduction in government fuel subsidies late on Monday.
ENTERTAINMENT
Gaming to surge in MENA
E-commerce and videogame markets are growing “exponentially” across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), driven by the mobile revolution and new youth-produced content, a study found. The gaming market is expected to nearly triple in size, from US$1.6 billion this year to US$4.4 billion in 2022, the study conducted by consulting firm Strategy& — formerly Booz & Co — and the Abu Dhabi media regulatory body, twofour54. So far, international games have about 90 percent of the regional market.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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