TECHNOLOGY
Jio adds Intel backing
Jio Platforms Ltd, the technology venture of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, secured 18.95 billion rupees (US$253.5 million) from Intel Capital, adding to a slew of investments since April that have reached more than US$15 billion. The investment arm of computer chip giant Intel Corp agreed to buy a 0.39 percent stake in Jio, giving the business an equity value of US$65 billion, Ambani’s conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd said in a statement yesterday.
VIETNAM
Bank loans rise 3.26%
The nation reported a 3.26 percent increase in bank lending from the end of last year to the end of last month, the central bank said yesterday. The Southeast Asian nation’s economic growth traditionally relies heavily on increased credit, though authorities have been trying to reduce this reliance. “The central bank is willing to raise its caps on credit growth for local commercial banks during the rest of this year to support economic growth,” Governor Le Minh Hung said in a statement.
SINGAPORE
Retail sales plummet 52.1%
Retail sales plunged in May by the most since records began in 1986, signaling the economic hit from COVID-19 lockdown restrictions could be worse than earlier anticipated. Overall sales plummeted 52.1 percent from a year earlier, the Department of Statistics said in a report yesterday, worse than the 47 percent median in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Purchases fell 21.5 percent from the previous month, versus forecasts for an 8 percent decline.
PAYMENTS
EU banks plan one system
Sixteen European banks have teamed up to deliver by 2022 a new unified payment system that would offer consumers on the continent both cards and digital wallets that could offer a serious alternative to giants in the sector, such as Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc. Dubbed the European Payments Initiative, the “solution aims to become a new standard means of payment for European consumers and merchants in all types of transactions,” the consortium said in a statement. The project aims to eventually capture at least 60 percent of electronic payments in Europe.
BANKING
HSBC focusing on China
HSBC Holdings PLC yesterday pledged to boost investments in China to capture more wealth and retail clients even as political tension escalates after Beijing launched a new security legislation to crack down on Hong Kong. The bank, which has come under fire over its support for the legislation, announced that it was starting a new service to provide customers in mainland China with digital wealth and insurance planning services. It would initially cover new customers in Guangzhou and Shanghai, it said in a statement. The bank is also establishing a fintech company to support its business.
AVIATION
Boeing official quits
Boeing Co communications chief Niel Golightly resigned on Thursday following a complaint over an article he wrote more than 30 years ago contending that women should not serve in combat. His resignation comes as a number of US companies examine their corporate culture following weeks of protests in the country over racism and police brutality, following the killing of black American George Floyd by a white police officer. Golightly leaves his post at Boeing after just months on the job.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last