■TRADE
India, S Korea ink pac
gned a free trade deal yesterday that a minister said had the potential to nearly double the more than US$15 billion in annual trade between Asia’s third and fourth-biggest economies in the next decade. The deal requires ratification by South Korea’s parliament, but can take effect without further steps by India, South Korea’s trade ministry said. The deal will eliminate tariffs on three quarters of India’s imports from South Korea by value, and more than 80 percent of South Korea’s imports from India.
■ECONOMY
‘Free fall’ over, ECB says
The world’s economic “free fall” is over but “uncertainty” still remains, European Central Bank (ECB) chief Jean-Claude Trichet told RTL radio yesterday. “We are still in a period of contraction of the economic activity,” Trichet said. “We are coming out of the period of free fall.” But he warned against being too optimistic. “The zone of uncertainty in which we have been since the crisis intensified in mid-September 2008 is not yet behind us,” he said.
■BANKING
DBS profits slump
Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd said yesterday that profit in the second quarter fell 15 percent from a year earlier as bad debt charges jumped amid a sluggish regional economic recovery. DBS, Southeast Asia’s biggest bank, reported earnings of S$552 million (US$384 million) for the three months ended June 30, down from a profit of S$652 million in the same period last year. The bank said it took allowances for loans and other losses of S$466 million for the second quarter, up from S$56 million a year ago.
■ELECTRONICS
Sanyo to invest in solar
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Co said yesterday that it would boost its solar panel production capacity by 30 percent within the next two years to meet surging demand fueled by government subsidies. Sanyo will invest about ¥4.2 billion (US$44 million) in a domestic plant in Shiga Prefecture to double the facility’s annual production capacity to 200,000 kilowatts, company spokeswoman Kumiko Makino said. In total, Sanyo’s solar panel production capacity will rise to 450,000 kilowatts, she said.
■INSURANCE
Allianz 2Q profit advances
German insurer Allianz SE said yesterday its second quarter net profit rose 21 percent as its life and health insurance business improved and said it was adjusting to the “new normal” of reduced returns. The Munich-based company said it made 1.9 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) in the April-June period, up from 1.5 billion euros in the second quarter of last year. Revenues for the quarter were slightly higher at 22.2 billion euros, compared with last year’s 21.5 billion euros.
■BANKING
Top official resigns
Societe Generale SA says that a top executive whose career was damaged by the French bank’s multibillion dollar trading scandal last year has resigned. Jean-Pierre Mustier is the former head of corporate and investment banking and one-time boss of disgraced trader Jerome Kerviel. Societe Generale SA said in a statement on Wednesday that Mustier and Robert Day, a board member, were told by the financial watchdog AMF that its sanctions committee was opening an insider trading inquiry.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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