■BANKING
UBS to cut 240 jobs
Switzerland’s biggest bank UBS said yesterday that 240 jobs would be cut from its wealth management division in the Asia-Pacific region as part of a cost reduction exercise. Despite the job losses, the region remains important for the company, UBS said in a statement from its Singapore office. The job cuts represent less than three percent of the bank’s total staff force in the region and under eight percent of its employees in the wealth management group, a UBS spokeswoman said. She said the job cuts extend across all levels within the wealth management group.
■TIRES
Alabama plant to close
The US subsidiary of French tire maker Michelin said on Monday it will shut a US plant in Alabama, where it employs 1,000 people, due to an “unprecedented” slump in demand. Michelin North America said the closure of the plant in Opelika, Alabama, by Oct. 31 was part of a restructuring plan for its manufacturing operations “in response to the unprecedented drop in market demand.” “The decision comes in the wake of the continuing economic crisis as consumers are driving fewer miles, purchasing fewer vehicles and delaying tire replacement purchases,” the company said in a statement.
■BANKING
Fortis reports loss
Fortis Bank, the former Belgian banking arm of stricken financial group Fortis, yesterday reported a loss of 20.6 billion euros (US$27.5 billion) for last year owing to the group’s break-up and losses on toxic assets. The bulk of the loss, which was roughly in line with a previous estimate, came from the “negative impact of 12.5 billion euros” relating to the parent company’s carve-up by the Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg states. As part of a bailout of the group, Belgium took over Fortis Bank and is now in the process of selling a 75 percent stake to French banking group BNP Paribas. Shareholders in Fortis Holding are to vote on the sale of Fortis Bank to BNP on April 28 and April 29.
■OIL
Shell talking to Chinese firms
Royal Dutch Shell is talking to Chinese oil companies about a possible bid to develop oil fields in Iraq, CEO Jeroen van der Veer said yesterday. “We are in the process of forming partnerships for certain bids, and Chinese companies are a part of that,” van der Veer said. He declined to say which potential partners Shell is talking to, or which fields they might bid on. Van der Veer said the deadline for bids is expected to be in late June or early July and details on partnerships would be announced then.
■COMMUNICATIONS
Mobile data use soars
People in Hong Kong people sent 14 times as much mobile data in January than they did in the same month two years ago, figures released yesterday revealed. The rise in the sending of mobile data from phones and hand-held computers also represented a four-fold increase on the figure from January last year, the territory’s telecommunications authority said. Figures from the authority show that there were 10.5 million mobile phone subscriptions in Hong Kong in January, equivalent to 1.5 subscriptions for every person in the former British colony. Every mobile phone customer sent an average of 41 SMS messages in January while the total number of SMS messages sent was 421.5 million, a 22 percent year-on-year rise.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
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