BANKING
US requests Deutsche data
The US government has requested that Deutsche Bank provide information on transactions potentially linked to Michael Flynn, US President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The request is part of an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in last year’s presidential election that brought Trump to office, the paper said. Flynn has pleaded guilty in a deal under which he agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. Earlier this week, two sources said that Germany’s biggest bank had been subpoenaed for records.
EUROPEAN UNION
Leaders seek banking union
EU leaders on Friday set the completion of a banking union and expansion of the role of the eurozone bailout fund as priorities for eurozone integration. “In the next six months, the work of our finance ministers should concentrate on areas where the convergence of views is the biggest,” summit chairman Donald Tusk told reporters after a summit of the 27 countries that are to remain in the EU after Britain leaves in 2019. Tusk said discussions would continue on other ideas, such as a eurozone budget, finance minister, parliament or sovereign insolvency mechanism, but they needed more time to “mature.”
ITALY
Amazon to pay settlement
Amazon.com Inc has agreed to pay the Italian taxman 100 million euros (US$117.5 million) to settle a dispute over suspected tax fraud, the Italian Agency of Revenue said on Friday. Italian authorities have been investigating Amazon for tax evasion in the period between 2011 and 2015, but the deal means that the case is now closed, it said in a statement. Italy has previously forced other US Internet giants to pay up for taxes owed, including Apple Inc, which in December 2015 agreed to pay 300 million euros to end a tax fraud investigation. In May last year, Google agreed to pay 306 million euros.
RUSSIA
Key rate drops to 7.75%
Russia’s central bank on Friday reduced its key interest rate to 7.75 percent, the sixth reduction this year as inflation hits a record low. The bank said in a statement it had trimmed its main interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, a quarter of a percentage point more than most analysts had predicted. The bank said inflation holds at 2.5 percent and will gradually draw near 4 percent by late next year. The bank also said it would continue its “gradual” monetary policy as medium-term inflation risks persist.
MASS MEDIA
AT&T chief leaves Boeing
AT&T Inc’s chief executive Randall Stephenson stepped down from the boards of Boeing Co and Emerson Electric Co to shield both companies from any fallout as he battles the US government to win approval for the takeover of Time Warner Inc, according to a person familiar with the matter. Stephenson, 57, thought it wise to sever ties with the companies, both federal contractors, so they would not face any repercussions, the person said. Both companies announced his departure in separate filings on Friday, saying he told them he needed to focus on the pending litigation over the Time Warner transaction.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
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