■BANKING
Citigroup fixing iPhone flaw
Banking giant Citigroup on Monday released an update to stop its iPhone mobile banking software from secretly squirreling away basic account and transaction data. “During a recent review, we discovered that our US Citi Mobile iPhone banking app was accidentally saving information related to customer accounts in a hidden file on their iPhones,” Citigroup said in a release. “This information may also have been saved on their computer if they had been synchronizing their iPhone with their computer via iTunes,” it said. “We have no reason to believe that our customers’ personal information has been accessed or used inappropriately by anyone,” Citigroup said. “There has been no data breach.”
■STEEL
JFE to buy stake in JSW
Japan’s JFE Holdings said yesterday its steel unit plans to buy a stake of nearly 15 percent in India’s JSW Steel for about US$1 billion as it looks to boost its presence in the fast-growing market. The Japanese company will also provide technology support and expertise in automobile steel production, with carmakers increasingly looking to assemble vehicles in India for the local market. “With this capital link, the two companies will expand their relations and consider joint projects,” a JFE statement said. JFE also announced a fiscal first-quarter net profit of ¥27.9 billion (US$322 million,) compared with a ¥41.6 billion loss in the same period a year earlier, thanks to cost reductions and improving demand.
■SOFTWARE
SAP Q2 net profit up 15%
German professional software giant SAP yesterday reported a 15 percent jump in second-quarter net profit to 491 million euros (US$638 million). Sales of software and related services gained 16 percent to 2.26 billion euros, a statement added. SAP said it had also completed a cash tender for outstanding shares in its Sybase unit, which focuses on database, information management and mobile activities. For the first six months of this year, SAP posted a net profit of 878 million euros, up from 622 million euros in the first half of last year.
■MANAGEMENT
Oracle CEO tops pay: ‘WSJ’
Oracle Corp founder and chief executive Larry Ellison topped the list of best-paid executives of the decade with US$1.84 billion, a Wall Street Journal report said on Monday. The 65-year-old software pioneer, who founded Oracle in 1977, beat Internet tycoon Barry Diller into second place. Diller received US$1.14 billion from IAC/Interactive and Expedia Inc, the online travel site IAC spun off in 2005, where he remains chairman. Occidental Petroleum Corp CEO Ray Irani came in third place, with US$857 million, followed by Apple’s Steve Jobs with US$749 million and Capital One Financial Corp CEO Richard Fairbank with US$569 million.
■SECURITIES
China okays Everbright IPO
China’s securities regulator has given the green light to China Everbright Bank’s (光大銀行) planned initial public offering, which could raise up to 20 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion). The decision by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, announced late on Monday, comes as state-owned banks seek to raise billions of yuan to meet increased capital requirements following a lending binge last year. Mid-sized lender Everbright plans to issue up to 6.1 billion shares at the Shanghai listing, according to a draft prospectus for the initial public offering.
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
J-6 REMODEL: The converted drones are part of Beijing’s expanding mix of airpower weapons, including bombers with stand-off missiles and UAV swarms, the report said China has stationed obsolete supersonic fighters converted to attack drones at six air bases close to the Taiwan Strait, a report published this month by the Arlington, Virginia-based Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies said. Satellite imagery of the airfields from the institute’s “China Airpower Tracker” shows what appear to be lines of stubby, swept-winged aircraft matching the shape of J-6 fighters that first flew with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in the 1960s. Since their conversion to drones, the aircraft have been identified at five bases in China’s Fujian Province and one in Guangdong Province, the report said. J.
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
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