JAPAN
Mt. Gox CEO charged
Prosecutors yesterday said that they have charged the head of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox with embezzlement, amid fraud allegations over the disappearance of hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-worth of the virtual currency. France-born Mark Karpeles, 30, was taken into police custody in Tokyo last month over the affair. He remained in custody yesterday, but has the option of petitioning the court for release pending trial. The charges are tied to allegations that Karpeles falsified data while another relates to claims he pocketed millions of dollars of bitcoin deposits.
CHINA
New credit rises after easing
The country’s broadest measure of new credit increased last month, suggesting monetary easing is showing signs of driving demand for loans. Aggregate financing rose to 1.08 trillion yuan (US$169.2 billion) last month from 718.8 billion yuan in July, according to the People’s Bank of China. New yuan loans fell to 809.6 billion yuan after surging to a six-year high in July on government stock rescue efforts. M2 money supply rose 13.3 percent from a year earlier.
SOUTH KOREA
BOK maintains rate at 1.5%
The central bank yesterday left its key interest rate unchanged at a record-low 1.5 percent, as it waited to see the timing of a much-anticipated US interest rate hike. The decision by the Bank of Korea (BOK) was widely expected, following a cut of 0.25 basis points in June. In July, the BOK cut its economic growth forecast for this year for the third time this year, to 2.8 percent. The bank has instituted four cuts in the past 12 months, totalling a full percentage point.
GERMANY
Inflation at only 0.2%
Inflation stood at just 0.2 percent last month, data showed yesterday, amid concerns that prices could begin to fall again in the 19-country eurozone. Using the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) — the yardstick used by the European Central Bank — inflation was even lower at just 0.1 percent year-on-year last month, the federal statistics office Destatis calculated. Falling energy prices were the main factor behind the stubbornly low rates, Destatis said in a statement.
FINANCE
GE asset management sale
General Electric Co (GE) is trying to sell the asset management arm that oversees the company’s pension plan as it continues to cut back on non-manufacturing operations. The company wants “buyers that possess considerable experience managing retirement plan assets” as it looks to shed GE Asset Management, according to a statement issued on Thursday. The unit has US$115 billion under management, including the company’s own plans and portfolios of clients around the globe, GE said.
INSURANCE
Fosun mulls rights offer
Fosun International Ltd (復星國際), Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang’s (郭廣昌) conglomerate that has bought insurers and real estate around the world, proposed raising HK$11.7 billion (US$1.5 billion) in a rights offer to fund its push into the banking and insurance industries. The company plans to sell as many as 871.3 million new shares at HK$13.42 each, according to a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing. Fosun will use the money for general corporate purposes including mergers and acquisitions in the banking and insurance industry and repayment of loans.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investment project in Arizona has progressed better than expected, but it still faces challenges such as water and labor shortages, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Yeh Chun-hsien (葉俊顯) said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after visiting TSMC’s Arizona hub and attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland last week, Yeh said TSMC’s Arizona site turned a profit of NT$16.14 billion (US$514 million) last year in its first full year of mass production. “TSMC told me it was surprised by the smooth trial run of the first fab, which has left the company optimistic about the project’s outlook,”
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