SINGAPORE
MAS targets misconduct
The central bank yesterday said that it would prioritize combating disclosure breaches, the misselling of financial products and money laundering in a report on oversight in financial markets. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) also said that it would focus on countering terrorism financing in its Enforcement Report, which is published every 18 months. The bank said that it would seek to update its enforcement powers to better detect, investigate and take action against financial misconduct and would increase focus on the accountability of senior management for any breaches, the report said.
BANKING
Credit Agricole tops forecasts
Credit Agricole SA’s third-quarter profit beat predictions as it reported lower-than-expected provisions for bad loans, while a rise in bond sales helped improve performance in its investment bank. The French lender yesterday posted underlying net income of 1.1 billion euros (US$1.28 billion) for the third quarter, down 9.1 percent from a year earlier, but well ahead of estimates from analysts polled by Bloomberg. Credit Agricole slowed the pace of expected loan losses in the third quarter, after taking heavy provisions in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank’s 577 million-euro provision was primarily to cover sectors vulnerable to renewed lockdowns in Europe.
INSURANCE
Prudential profits surprise
Prudential Financial Inc posted a surprise jump in profit and said it is ahead of schedule on an effort to cut expenses. The life insurer’s net income rose to US$1.49 billion in the third quarter, compared with profit of US$1.42 billion a year earlier. The company said it had already achieved more than 95 percent of the cost cuts it planned for this year. The firm’s asset-management unit PGIM Inc posted record adjusted profit as clients’ assets jumped 11 percent from a year earlier to the highest ever. Prudential said that it now aims to cut US$250 million more in expenses by the end of 2023, bringing the total to US$750 million.
CASINOS
Crown Resorts ‘unsuitable’
Australian casino giant Crown Resorts Ltd was unsuitable to hold a casino license in the country’s biggest state, and the influence of its major shareholder James Packer led to a mass arrest of staff in China, an inquiry heard yesterday. The assertions came in the closing statement from the lawyer running an inquiry into whether Crown should be allowed to operate a 75-floor casino tower on the Sydney waterfront that it has spent A$2.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) building and plans to open next month. While the remarks do not amount to formal recommendations, they raise the prospect that the inquiry might not go in Crown’s favor.
THAILAND
EV incentives endorsed
Bangkok approved a slew of new incentives covering electric cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles and ships to promote local production of electric vehicles (EVs) and its supply chain. The new package, approved by the Board of Investment chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, includes a three-year tax holiday for manufacturers of plug-in hybrid vehicles and an eight-year corporate income tax waiver for battery electric vehicle makers. The incentives “will ... allow the entire sector to move into higher gear,” board Secretary-General Duangjai Asawachintachit said in a statement.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
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