Thu, Oct 03, 2019 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  BANKING

  NAB takes fresh charge

  The cost of National Australia Bank Ltd’s (NAB) misconduct continues to mount, with the lender taking a further A$1.2 billion (US$802 million) charge, mostly to compensate customers given poor financial advice or sold junk insurance. Of the charges, A$832 million is to compensate customers primarily for fees paid to self-employed financial advisers who operated under NAB’s license. That takes total provisions for customer-related remediation to A$2.09 billion, the bank said. The remaining A$348 million relates to software write-offs.

  COSMETICS

  Nestle finalizes unit’s sale

  Swiss food giant Nestle SA yesterday said it has finalized the sale of its skincare business to a group led by Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners AB and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The purchase price for Nestle Skin Health was 10.2 billion Swiss francs (US$10.2 billion), the group said in a statement. Nestle had announced in May that it was in talks to divest the business, which is based in Lausanne, employs more than 5,000 people worldwide and generates annual sales of SF2.8 billion.

  AUTOMAKERS

  GM temporarily lays off staff

  General Motors Co (GM) has laid off 6,000 workers in Mexico temporarily due to a US labor strike, which has disrupted production at two plants south of the border manufacturing pickup trucks, the company said on Tuesday. The layoffs affect the Silao assembly and transmission plants in central Mexico, where work has been “disrupted as a result of a parts shortage related to the [United Automobile Workers union] strike,” a GM spokesman said. The Silao workers are expected to return to their jobs after the strike, the spokesman said.

  PHARMACEUTICALS

  J&J settles opioid case

  US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) on Tuesday said it had reached a US$20.4 million settlement to avoid a much-anticipated trial in Ohio for allegedly fueling the opioid addiction crisis. Several drugmakers have agreed deals ahead of the trial, due to begin this month, which is seen as a national test case for many billions of US dollars in settlements.

  GAMING

  Sony cuts cloud prices

  Sony Interactive Entertainment on Tuesday slashed the price of its PlayStation Now cloud video game service as it braced for Google to launch challenger Stadia next month. PlayStation Now subscription prices were cut by about half in the US to US$10 per month, the same cost as Stadia Pro subscriptions available with a “founders edition” of the new Google streaming video game service. Sony also boosted the library of games that PlayStation Now users can access through its consoles or on PCs.

  BANKING

  Philippines revising rules

  The Philippines would give more importance to the size of banks and their relationships with other firms in deciding which lenders are too big to fail, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier said. The central bank is increasing the weightings for size and interconnectedness “as these are considered as the key factors driving the bank’s systemic importance,” Fonacier said in an e-mailed reply to questions. It is revising a five-year-old rule in deciding which banks have to hold additional capital because they are too big to fail.
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