IT industry insiders predict future of job market

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/12
By: Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – According to a new survey conducted by KPMG Taiwan (安侯建業), 33 percent of the chief information officers (CIO) at major IT companies around the world predict that at least 20 percent of the workforce will be replaced by AI and automation in the next five years.

KPMG Taiwan cooperated with Harvey Nash to survey 3,645 CIOs across 108 countries and released the report "2019 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey." In general, 2019 has been a good year for IT development because industry budgets have increased and wages are also on the rise.

According to the report, 33 percent of CIOs around the globe think that AI and automation will replace more than 20 percent of the workers by 2024. In the Asia-Pacific region, 44 percent of the CIOs agree with the trend, perhaps because the region has been largely dedicated to outsourcing services.

However, 54 percent of CIOs in the Asia-Pacific region believe that the number of employees in the technological sector will still rise next year. Likewise, the prediction indicates that the need for talented people will not shrink.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/12
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Aug. 12 (CNA) The average monthly earnings of Taiwanese workers slid in June as Taiwan's export-oriented economy was hurt by weaker global demand resulting from trade friction between the United States and China, Taiwan's statistics bureau reported Monday.

Average monthly earnings, which includes regular salary plus bonuses, overtime pay and other irregular income, fell 0.44 percent in June from a year earlier to NT$48,286 (US$1,538), according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

Average regular salary, however, was up 2.38 percent year-on-year to NT$41,782 in June, suggesting that the fall in total earnings was due to employers cutting bonuses or reducing overtime hours, said Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨), deputy director of the DGBAS' census department.

In June, average overtime hours fell 0.3 hours, or 3.66 percent, from a year earlier to 7.9 hours, while total working hours dropped 5.9 hours, or 3.56 percent, from a year earlier to 159.6, DGBAS figures showed.    [FULL  STORY]

GLOOMY EVALUATIONS: The Ifo World Economic Climate index worsened from minus-2.4 to minus-10.1, while the outlook for Taiwan shed 9.1 points to minus-21.8

Taipei Times
Date:  Aug 13, 2019
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan’s economy is losing momentum, veering away from an earlier course of recovery for this

quarter, as global trade conflicts flare up without solutions in sight, the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research said yesterday.

The institute’s World Economic Climate index worsened from minus-2.4 to minus-10.1 for this quarter after experts revised downward their assessments and expectations in advanced economies and in Asia’s emerging and developing economies.

The think tank’s figure for Taiwan shed 9.1 points to minus-21.8.

“The economic climate deteriorated in all regions because the intensification of the trade conflict is having a considerable detrimental effect on the world economy,” institute president Clemens Fuest said.

The gloomy appraisal was assembled from the institute’s survey of 1,173 experts in 116 countries last month, with Taiwan’s evaluation being drawn from data compiled by the National Development Council.    [FULL  STORY]

Challengers to enter crowded banking market.

ZDNET
Date: August 9, 2019
By: Andrew Silver

Taiwan has granted its first three virtual banking licenses to consortia backed by investors from Taiwan and Japan, as it looks to speed up innovation in a market resistant to change. Financial experts say that if the challengers can turn a profit while overcoming regulatory and cybersecurity barriers, other traditional brick-and-mortar chains could follow suit in embracing virtual-banking.

The island's Financial Supervisory Commission on July 30 granted licenses to three groups. One is LINE Financial Taiwan, led by Japan's app operator LINE Group and includes Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, CTBC Bank, Standard Chartered, Union Bank of Taiwan, and Taiwan telecom operator FarEastTone. The second is Next Commercial Bank, led by Taiwan telecom operator Chunghwa Telecom. The third is Rakuten International Commercial Bank, led by Taiwanese IBF Financial Holdings and Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc.

"One of the biggest advantages of operating an online bank is that operating cost are significantly lower than traditional banks that need to operate branches," a spokesperson for Rakuten, which has been operating online-only Rakuten Bank in Japan since 2010, said.   [FULL  STORY]

Yang Chin-long's predecessor won 14 A ratings

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/09
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) has received his first A from

Global Finance magazine since taking office last year, continuing a tradition which saw his predecessor win 14 of the accolades.

Despite the typhoon which shut down offices in Taipei Friday (August 9), Yang still showed up for work at 8 a.m. sharp in order to keep an eye on the potential currency war between the United States and China, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

As to the latest A rating from Global Finance, the Taiwanese banker said that was the work of all his associates and employees at his institution.

The U.S. publication awarded its highest praise to 10 central bank chiefs from around the world, including Yang’s colleagues in South Korea, Australia, Russia, and Mexico.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/09
By: Chang Chieh-chung and Frances Huang

Taipei, Aug. 9 (CNA) Catcher Technology Co., a supplier of metal casings to Apple Inc., saw its net profit in the second quarter rise more than 60 percent from the previous quarter because of strong income from activities not related to its main business operations.

In a statement issued Friday, Catcher said its net profit for the quarter was NT$2.73 billion (US$87.05 million), up 60.8 percent from a quarter earlier, but its operating profit fell almost 40 percent from a quarter earlier to NT$1.47 billion due to rising costs.

Non-operating income topped NT$4.61 billion in the second quarter, more than offsetting the decline in operating profit to give the company strong quarter-on-quarter profit gains, Catcher said.

The company did not elaborate on the sources of its high non-operating income.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/08
By: Y.F. Low

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) Taiwan shares closed up 108.31 points, or 1.04 percent, at 10,494.49 Thursday on turnover of NT$123.06 billion (US$3.93 billion).     [SOURCE]