Nan Shan says policies OK
Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), a Taipei-based subsidiary of troubled American International Group Inc (AIG), yesterday said the rights of local insurance policyholders would be honored despite its US parent company’s financial difficulties.
Nan Shan said yesterday that the local life insurance subsidiary is operating normally, unaffected by the US parent company’s credit problems.
The company, however, admitted that it was unaware of the US parent company’s latest finances and refused to comment.
Survey highlights data fears
Fears of a virus attack and data loss are prompting firms in the Asia-Pacific region to adopt disaster recovery plans, a survey said yesterday.
Conducted by Symantec Corporation, the survey showed that 42 percent of firms queried worry about a virus attack and 41 percent fear data loss.
Natural disasters emerged as the next biggest headache spurring disaster recovery investment at 31 percent, followed by accidental or malicious employee behavior at 30 percent.
The survey included more than 1,000 IT professionals globally. Nearly 30 percent of the respondents were from the Asia-Pacific region, including India, Malaysia and Singapore.
Fifty-two percent of the firms carry out tests once a year or less, the survey said.
HK airport numbers down
Passenger numbers at Hong Kong’s international airport fell by more than 5 percent in August when the city staged Olympic equestrian events, figures showed yesterday.
Statistics from the Hong Kong Airport Authority showed passenger volume for the month was down 5.3 percent compared with August last yeaAr at 4.2 million people.
The fall came as Hong Kong staged the equestrian games of the Beijing Olympics, which many hoteliers believe kept people away from the city of 6.9 million.
Airport Authority chief executive Stanley Hui (許漢忠) blamed falling passenger numbers on fuel prices, rising inflationary pressure and global financial volatility.
However, he added: “The tightening of visa applications [to enter mainland China] due to the Olympics also contributed to the lower passenger and cargo figures.”
Hong Kong is a popular gateway to China but new visa restrictions put into effect from March have made it difficult for people to get onward visas.
Singaporeans still spending
Singapore’s retail sales rose at the fastest pace in more than a year in July as consumers increased purchases of vehicles and spent more at gasoline stations and department stores.
The retail sales index increased 11.8 percent from a year earlier after dropping a revised 3.4 percent in June, the Statistics Department said yesterday.
Rising demand for construction services is helping hold up Singapore’s domestic demand by adding jobs to the Southeast Asian economy. That may counter a decline in export orders as growth in the nation’s biggest markets slow.
“Singapore is still in reasonably healthy shape and consumers are still spending,” said David Cohen of Action Economics in Singapore. “Going forward, everyone is still quite nervous on how the global economy will perform and we may see some easing then.”
Singapore’s companies added 144,600 jobs in the first six months of the year, a report by the Ministry of Manpower showed yesterday.
NT dollar gains slightly
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday gained slightly by NT$0.002 to trade at NT$32.039 against the US dollar on turnover of US$1.38 billion.
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