■ Banking
China bank reports fraud
Bank of Communications Co (交通銀行), China's fifth-largest bank by assets, has reported a fraud case it said involved 200 million yuan (US$24.9 million) at a branch in Shenyang City. The Hong Kong-listed bank said in a statement on its Web site over the weekend that it was working with security authorities to investigate the case. The case was exposed as the bank was carrying out internal audits and upgrading its customer information management system, said the statement, which provided few other details. "We have found a case in our Shenyang branch where a customer was defrauded of funds, and a preliminary investigation shows that the amount is about 200 million yuan," said the bank, 19.9 percent owned by HSBC Holdings Plc.
■ Air cargo
Hactl pans airline merger
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd, or Hactl, has said the merger between Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd and Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd (港龍航空) may hurt airlines, cargo terminal operators and freight forwarders. Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's largest airline, on Friday announced plans to acquire Dragon Airlines for HK$8.22 billion (US$1.05 billion). The announcement comes after the airline applied to the city's airport authority to build a dedicated air cargo facility at Hong Kong International Airport. Hactl, which accounts for 80 percent of air cargo movement in Hong Kong, said Cathay Pacific and Dragonair's combined cargo volume makes up 40 percent of the airport's total. "The merger of the two airlines if combined with cargo self-handling would there create a dominant, vertically-integrated air cargo operation," Hactl said in a statement late on Sunday.
■ Banking
Islamic services expanded
Singapore yesterday stepped up efforts to grow its Islamic financial services market as the city-state expands the range of banking products compliant with Shariah law. With immediate effect, banks in Singapore can now offer Murabaha investment products, a type of financing that requires the bank to purchase goods on behalf of the customer before selling them at a mark-up, the central bank said. "We hope this will further expand the range of Islamic products for both private and institutional Islamic asset management in Singapore and the region," said Heng Swee Keat (王瑞傑), managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
■ Economy
Japan revises up Q1 growth
Japan's economy grew a revised 0.8 percent in January-March from the previous quarter, up from preliminary 0.5 percent, the government announced yesterday, in another sign that Japan's economy is posting a solid comeback. On an annualized basis, the economy grew 3.1 percent in the quarter, up from the initial reading of 1.9 percent in the three-month period. Japan released preliminary economic growth data on May 18. The earlier results, of 0.5 percent in the quarter, had already beaten analyst expectations for 0.2 percent growth. The healthy uptick marks the fifth straight quarter of growth for the world's second-largest economy, the first such string of positive figures in five years. Japan's economic growth has improved on the back of rising corporate investment, falling unemployment and the end of deflation. The biggest change in the revised figures comes from a bigger increase in corporate spending, the Ministry of Finance said.
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
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