■ FINANCE
BNP hires Lehman head
BNP Paribas Securities in Japan said it had hired Adrian Averre, formerly head of vanilla option trading at Lehman Brothers Japan Inc. BNP Paribas appointed Averre, 42, as head of its interest-rate and foreign-exchange trading, Kunihiro Murata, a spokesman at the firm said in an interview yesterday. Averre joined the French bank on March 1 and will primarily focus on expanding the firm's franchise in the yen rates trading area, including linear products, vanilla options and Libor exotics, a press release said. "Adrian's appointment is part of our long-standing commitment and ambition in Japan," Hikaru Ogata, general manager and head of fixed income of the firm, said in the release.
■ COST OF LIVING
Millionaire lifestyle pricey
Britons need a lot more than ?1 million (US$2 million) to enjoy the lifestyle of the rich and famous, a report by the National Lottery by the Centre for Economics and Business Research said yesterday. You need at least ?5.8 million to consider yourself "comfortably rich" in Britain, the report said. That sum allows you to buy a smart house, a luxury holiday villa and a top-of-the-range car. High property prices and rising inflation means a ?1.7 million National Lottery win would require careful spending to make the windfall last. It said ?108.6 million is needed to fund a lifetime of extravagant spending as enjoyed by David and Victoria Beckham and Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie.
■ TELECOMS
Sony Ericsson reviews ties
Sony Ericsson said yesterday that it was reviewing its business ties with NTT DoCoMo, Japan's top mobile telephone operator, which is struggling amid an industry price war. But the company, a joint venture between Japan's Sony Corp and Sweden's LM Ericsson, declined to confirm reports it will stop making handsets for DoCoMo. "It is true that Sony Ericsson is reviewing part of its product development plans with DoCoMo," company spokesman Toshiyuki Kawamura said. But he said the firm would continue to provide products to DoCoMo. The Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday that Sony Corp would stop making mobile phones for NTT DoCoMo and instead focus on overseas markets.
■ FINANCE
Carlyle warns on sales
Listed mortgage-bond fund Carlyle Capital Corp Ltd said yesterday that it is in talks with creditors to prevent the liquidation of some US$16 billion in securities. Carlyle Capital, which shook financial markets last week after missing margin calls with banks on financing for its US$21.7 billion portfolio of residential mortgage-backed bonds, said that it believed some US$5 billion of the securities held as collateral may have already been sold by some of the banks. The fund, an affiliate of the US-based private equity firm Carlyle Group, warned that if it fails to reach an agreement on debt repayments with the remaining lenders who hold around US$16 billion in securities, those lenders may also liquidate their securities. Carlyle Capital's troubles have raised fears that the assets will flood the market, further depressing prices on fixed-income securities, which have dropped sharply in recent weeks as banks pull back on their lending to funds and investment vehicles, leading to forced asset sales.
ECONOMIC RESILIENCE: Only 11.4 percent of Taiwan’s overseas investments last year were in China, and businesses are dispersing their investments elsewhere, Lai said China’s ambition to annex Taiwan is based on a desire to change the rules-based international order, rather than a desire for territorial gains, President William Lai (賴清德) said in an interview. During an appearance on the talk show The View With Catherine Chang, aired last night, Lai said China aimed to achieve hegemony, and that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was an issue of worldwide concern. During the interview, Lai also discussed his “four-pillar plan” for peace and prosperity, which he first outlined in an article published by the Wall Street Journal on July 4 last year. That
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
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