Business and Finance

Value-packed jetliner

The China Post
Date: October 2, 2016
By: CNA

p15a-1China Airlines’ (CAL) first A350-900 XWB passenger jetliner lands at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Saturday. The CAL will use the Airbus’ all-new aircraft to serve the route to European cities such as Amsterdam, Vienna, and Rome. The jetliner accommodates 325 passengers in a standard three-class configuration while offering unbeatable economics in high-density seating and true long-haul capability with a range of up to 8,100 nautical miles.    [SOURCE]

Agricultural losses from Typhoon Megi reach NT$2.58 billion

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/02
By: Tsai Yi-yu and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Sept. 30 (CNA) Estimate of agricultural losses from Typhoon Megi, which swept Taiwan last

Banana farm in Yunlin in the aftermath of Typhoon Megi.

Banana farm in Yunlin in the aftermath of Typhoon Megi.

Tuesday, had risen to NT$2.58 billion (US$82.4 million), according to the Council of Agriculture (COA) on Sunday.

Crop damage accounted for most of the losses at about NT$2.22 billion, with rice farmers taking the biggest hit, suffering crop losses of NT$385.75 million, followed by growers of bananas, guavas, bamboo shoots and grapes.

Chiayi County in the south suffered the heaviest losses at NT$492.19 million, followed by Yunlin County with NT$490.27 million, Kaohsiung with NT$287.20 million, Changhua County with NT$279.80 million, Taichung with NT$217.50 million and Yilan County with NT$203.24 million, the COA said.

Typhoon Megi made landfall Tuesday in Hualien County in eastern Taiwan, causing seven deaths and 625 injuries and leaving 4.22 million households without power before moving westward toward mainland China early Wednesday.      [FULL  STORY]

Bai Chi seeks settlement with SFIPC

CASH-STRAPPED:The Japanese company is in talks over compensation for shareholders affected by its failed XPEC acquisition and is looking to supporters for a capital injection

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 03, 2016
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

Bai Chi Gan Tou Digital Entertainment Co (百尺竿頭) yesterday said it is seeking a settlement with the Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center (SFIPC) over a class-action lawsuit against the company’s withdrawal from its acquisition of XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞科技).

The center, which serves as the plaintiff of a class-action on behalf of 5,000 XPEC shareholders, sought unspecified compensation for damages caused by Bai Chi’s cancelation last month of the NT$4.86 billion (US$155 million) deal.

Bai Chi said that it was forced to drop the deal after its major financial supporters decided not to finance the acquisition at the last minute.

“Bai Chi will make every effort to compensate [XPEC] shareholders who participated in the tender offer bid to recover their losses,” the company said in a statement released yesterday. “Bai Chi started an initial negotiation last month with the SFIPC via its lawyers to explore the possibility of a settlement. Bai Chi hopes to settle the case in the short term.”     [FULL  STORY]

EVA Air chairman pens apology for Megi row

The China post
Date: October 2, 2016
By: The China post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — EVA Air Chairman Steve Lin has written a letter of apology to the company’s employees in the wake of a row over the airline’s maintaining of “normal” flight schedules despite Typhoon Megi, according to the Central News Agency.

In the internal letter sent out to the employees on Friday, Lin promised the company would make a thorough assessment of its operations, the CNA said.

Megi disrupted most air traffic after the typhoon hit Taiwan on Sept. 27.

EVA however allowed many of its flights to fly back and land at the Taoyuan international airport.

EVA Air’s operations during the typhoon raised safety concerns, with the Civil Aeronautics Administration saying it would conduct an investigation.     [FULL  STORY]

Landis to open three-star hotel in Hsinchu

CULINARY APPEAL:Food and beverage sales are expected to generate 60 percent of total sales, with the group opening branches of its popular restaurants in the inn

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 01, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter, in HSINCHU

Landis Hospitality Group (麗緻餐旅集團), an upscale hotel and restaurant operator, is to open a new venue, Landis Inn Chuhu, in Hsinchu later this month, as it seeks to expand into the three-star hotel market, senior executives said yesterday.

Located near the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) and National Chiao Tung University, the planned inn is aimed at business travelers and university students and faculty with a daily budget of between NT$3,300 and NT$4,200.

“We aim to increase our number of customers without giving up on operating five-star facilities,” Gary Lo (羅明威), assistant general manager at the group’s business development division, told a media briefing in Hsinchu.

Landis Inn Chuhu is the group’s newest venture after Hotel ONE Taichung (台中亞緻大飯店) launched in 2006.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s manufacturing sector continues to improve

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-30
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Y.F. Low, Central News Agency

The local manufacturing sector continued to show signs of improvement in August as Taiwan’s exports rebounded, according to a survey released Friday by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER).

The survey indicated that the manufacturing composite index for August rose 1.32 points from a month earlier to 11.84, flashing a yellow-blue light for the second consecutive month following a 15-month blue-light streak.

TIER uses a five-color system to describe economic activity, with red indicating overheating, yellow-red showing fast growth, green representing stable growth, yellow-blue signaling sluggish growth and blue reflecting a contraction.

A yellow-blue light flashes when the composite index is between 10.5 points and 13 points, while a blue light flashes when it is below 10.5 points.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan, U.S. to hold major trade talks in Washington

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/30
By: Elaine Hou and Huang Li-yun

Taipei, Sept. 30 (CNA) Taiwan and the United States will hold their latest round of talks under the Trade

Wang Mei-hua (王美花, CNA file photo)

Wang Mei-hua (王美花, CNA file photo)

and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in Washington next week, which are expected to cover a wide range of trade and investment issues, in an effort to advance bilateral trade ties.

The talks are slated for Oct. 4, and the discussions will focus on priority issues to improve U.S.-Taiwan trade and investment ties, including intellectual property rights protection, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, investment, agriculture, and technical barriers to trade, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement Friday.

The two sides will also discuss regional and multilateral cooperation, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said.

Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) will lead the Taiwan delegation, which will include officials from several government agencies, such as the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the MOEA, the ministry said.     [FULL  STORY]

Shares fall amid Deutsche Bank woes

‘UNJUSTIFIED CONCERNS’:Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan said the lender remains strong and holds a ‘comfortable buffer,’ with more than 215 billion euros in reserve

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 01, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA and AP

Local shares yesterday lost momentum and closed below the 9,200-point mark, amid global concerns

A man looks at an electronic board displaying stock figures in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

A man looks at an electronic board displaying stock figures in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

over a financial crisis at Deutsche Bank AG.

The TAIEX ended down 104.05 points, or 1.12 percent, at 9,166.85, with turnover of NT$72.70 billion (US$2.32 billion), Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

Shares in the financial services sector weakened, with Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) closing down 1.07 percent at NT$46.3 and Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) ending 1.47 percent lower at NT$40.1.

Deutsche Bank has been a growing concern for investors after US authorities two weeks ago said they are seeking US$14 billion from the bank to settle legal claims over its sales of mortgage securities, complex investments that were one of the key causes of the global financial crisis in 2008.

With the German government giving no sign that it would be prepared to offer a bail     [FULL  STORY]

Central bank stops interest rate cut cycle

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-29
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Taipei, Sept. 29 (CNA) The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) said Thursday after concluding a quarterly policymaking meeting that it has decided to stop an interest rate cut cycle.

The central bank’s move in its latest policymaking meeting left the discount rate unchanged at 1.375 percent, the rate of accommodations with collateral at 1.750 percent, and the rate of accommodations without collateral at 3.625 percent.

The decision to leave its key interest rates unchanged had been widely anticipated by the market as the local economy has shown signs of improvement, with exports — which account for 60 percent of Taiwan’s gross domestic product — staging a rebound.

In a recent poll by Bloomberg, 14 out of 26 analysts surveyed had said that the central bank would not adjust its monetary policy in Thursday’s meeting.     [FULL  STORY]

Central banker to step down in 2018

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/29
By: Bernie Chiu and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Sept. 29 (CNA) Central Bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) on Thursday indicated he is 201609290029t0001planning to step down in early 2018, saying: “This is my last public office and my last term.”

By that he meant he will step down in early 2018. The term of office of the Central Bank governor of the Republic of China (Taiwan) is five years, and Perng’s current term will end in February 2018.

Perng, who assumed his position in 1998, made the statement in a press conference after a quarterly policymaking meeting of the central bank on Thursday.

Perng has become the longest serving central banker in Taiwan for his service of more than 18 years; the second longest serving governor is Yu Kuo-hwa (俞國華), who served 15 years.     [FULL  STORY]