■FINANCE
Merrill Lynch sees last day
New York City investment bank Merrill Lynch has seen its last day. As of yesterday, the company became part of the North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp. At the closing bell on New Year’s Eve on the fifth floor of the World Financial Center in Manhattan, Merrill Lynch & Co’s employees held what’s known as a clapoff: Hundreds of them stood and applauded solemnly to pay tribute to their company. Merrill Lynch lost billions of dollars in the subprime mortgage crisis.
■COMPUTERS
Ricoh, IBM team up
Ricoh Co and IBM Corp will tie up to sell products such as copiers and computer servers in the US, sharing their marketing networks, the Nikkei Shimbun reported. Marketing staff from both companies will conduct joint visits to clients in the US starting early this year, the newspaper report said, without citing a source. With the tie-up with IBM, Ricoh is aiming at boosting its sales by ¥100 billion during the next two to three years, the Nikkei report said. The two companies will also jointly develop software to be used for Ricoh’s copiers and printers, the report said.
■FINANCE
Kookmin to offer new loans
Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s biggest, will provide 1.5 trillion won (US$1.2 billion) in new loans to small and medium-sized companies to ease cash shortages as the economy slows. The bank will lend 500 billion won to manufacturing clients with stable credit, Kookmin said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. A further 1 trillion won will go to small and medium-sized enterprises whose credit is more than 95 percent guaranteed by state-run loan guarantors. Starting tomorrow, Kookmin will also enable companies to get larger discounts on interest rates and will defer the repayment of principal on foreign-currency loans made to invest in facilities.
■FINANCE
China may issue bonds
The Chinese government may issue bonds on behalf of local authorities next month to raise funds for projects to spur growth and increase employment, the China Business Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. The Ministry of Finance will make an official announcement at the central fiscal work conference on Jan. 5, the newspaper said. The State Council will determine each local government’s quota on Jan. 20 and the bonds are scheduled to be sold on Feb. 1, the report said. The bonds will be traded on China’s interbank and securities markets, the report said. The National People’s Congress will monitor how local governments spend the money raised in the debt offerings.
■SINGAPORE
PM pessimistic on 2009
The economy cannot avoid being hit by the global economic recession and will face difficult prospects this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said in his New Year’s message on Wednesday night. The global economic recession, the most serious in 60 years, would be followed not by a quick rebound, but by several more years of slow growth, Lee said. He said he expected the first half of this year to be difficult for the country, with more companies downsizing, resulting in job losses. The country registered 1.5 percent economic growth, which was below the widely projected 2.5 percent growth, Channel News Asia reported yesterday.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
MARITIME SECURITY: Of the 52 vessels, 15 were rated a ‘threat’ for various reasons, including the amount of time they spent loitering near subsea cables, the CGA said Taiwan has identified 52 “suspicious” Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience that require close monitoring if detected near the nation, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday, as the nation seeks to protect its subsea telecoms cables. The stricter regime comes after a Cameroon-flagged vessel was briefly detained by the CGA earlier this month on suspicion of damaging an international cable northeast of Taiwan. The vessel is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company with a Chinese address given for its only listed director, the CGA said previously. Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt
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