■ Stock Exchanges
Tokyo bourse's chief quits
Tokyo Stock Exchange chief Takuo Tsurushima resigned yesterday to take responsibility for the estimated US$330 million loss on the market because of a simple typing error on an order. Sadao Yoshino, who is in charge of TSE's computer system, and managing director and executive officer Tomio Amano also stepped down in the scandal. On Dec. 8, a trader at Mizuho Securities punched in an order to sell 610,000 shares in a telecoms firm at ?1 each, instead of the intended one share at ?610,000, landing the firm a loss of US$330 million.
■ Internet
Online retail sales grow
US online retail sales showed strong gains for the current holiday season, according to two surveys released as the period for Internet purchases drew to a close. Shoppers spent US$18.6 billion through Dec. 9, up 16 percent from the same period last year, according to a survey of 1,000 shoppers by Goldman Sachs with Nielsen/NetRatings and Harris Interactive. A separate survey released on Sunday by comScore Networks showed a 23 percent gain in the period through Dec. 16, to US$15.86 billion. ComScore said the survey suggests overall online spending for the holiday season will top US$19 billion.
■ Banking
ABN Amro pays fine in US
Dutch bank ABN Amro has paid a fine of US$80 million imposed by US financial authorities for contravening rules aimed at blocking payments to terrorist organizations. The bank, which has interests around the world, made the announcement in Amsterdam late on Monday, saying the contraventions took place in its New York office, which handles all the bank's dollar transactions. The board of management simultaneously announced that it was handing back US$1 million in bonus payments. The fine was imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), an enforcement arm of the US Treasury Department. The payments, covering the period 1997 to last year, involved a list of OFAC-sanctioned countries. Iran and Libya were specifically mentioned.
■ Insurance
2005 the costliest year yet
Natural and manmade disasters that killed 112,000 people this year caused an estimated US$80 billion in insured losses, making it the world's costliest year for insurers, Swiss Reinsurance Co said yesterday. Swiss Re, the world's second-largest reinsurer, said catastrophes caused total financial losses -- most of which were uninsured -- of around US$225 billion. Earthquakes were the major killer, with 87,000 people dying in the Oct. 8 Pakistan earthquake, the company said. Overall, earthquakes claimed over 90,000 lives this year. Damage from the Pakistan quake was in the range of US$5 billion. The hurricanes that hit North America caused the most expensive damage to buildings, vehicles and infrastructure, Swiss Re said. The widespread flooding and devastation caused by Katrina in New Orleans and along the US Gulf coast contributed to a total economic loss of US$135 billion from that one hurricane. The subsequent storms, hurricanes Rita and Wilma, each added a further US$15 billion, Swiss Re said.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
Opposition parties not passing defense funding harms Taiwan’s national security, two US senators said separately in rare public criticism. “I am disappointed to see Taiwan’s opposition parties in parliament [the legislature] slash President [William] Lai’s (賴清德) defense budget so dramatically,” Roger Wicker, a Republican who chairs the US Senate Armed Forces Committee, said on social media. “The original proposal funded urgently needed weapons systems. Taiwan’s parliament should reconsider — especially with rising Chinese threats,” he added. Wicker’s post linked to an article published by Bloomberg that said that the two opposition parties’ move was “potentially jeopardizing the purchases of billions of dollars of
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