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.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS