Business and Finance

Hon Hai launches probe after casing fraud reports

UNDER THE TABLE: Top managers have reportedly been selling defective iPhone casings from a plant in China, which are then repaired and resold to wholesalers

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 19, 2019
By: Natasha Li  /  Staff reporter

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the biggest assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday said it has launched an internal investigation following reports of fraud at its plant in Zhengzhou, China.

Hon Hai, known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said in a statement that, based on company policy, it would not comment on market rumors about its clients or products.

The company has begun assessing its standard operating procedures while authorities investigate the matter, Hon Hai said, adding that it would not indulge employees implicated in such acts.

The statement came after the Chinese-language online Mirror Media reported on Tuesday that top managers at Hon Hai have been involved in misappropriating assets since at least 2016, by selling defective iPhone casings, originally meant for destruction, under the table.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s StarLux Airlines is looking for 300 recruits

Start-up airline also wants cabin staff with 2 years of experience

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

StarLux is recruiting 300 employees (screenshot of StarLux’s Facebook page).

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – About a month before its scheduled maiden flight, StarLux Airlines is looking to recruit 300 employees in 67 job categories, reports said Tuesday (December 17).

The new staff members will be involved in operations from legal affairs, customer service, the procurement of items for use on board to the cleaning and repair of the aircraft, according to the United Daily News.

While starting salaries would rely on each applicant’s background and experience, the monthly pay would most likely fall between NT$35,000 (US$1,160) and NT$45,000.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei City, local conglomerate ink contract for Twin Towers project

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/17
By: Chen Yi-hsuan, Liang Pei-chi, Jeffrey Wu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Kent Hsu (許崑泰), head of the local consortium awarded priority status to develop the Twin Towers project near Taipei Main Station officially signed a contract on Tuesday to develop the property.

With the location of the planned towers close to a important transportation hub for metro, high speed rail, railway trains and buses that serve more than 500,000 commuters a day, the development project is expected to provide tremendous business opportunities because "where there are crowds, there is business," Ko said.

Noting that the project will cost NT$60.6 billion (US$2.01 billion), Ko said it is estimated the city government will earn NT$1.8 billion in rental revenue and 1.46 billion in property tax revenue each year.

Construction of the two high-rise skyscrapers — one with 56 stories above ground and four basement levels, and the other with 76 stories above ground and four basement levels — is expected to start in 2021 and be completed in 2026, before being officially opened in 2027, according to Chang Tzer-hsiung (張澤雄), the head of the city's Department of Rapid Transit Systems.
[FULL  STORY]

All bank branches to be bilingual by 2030: FSC

GOVERNMENT PUSH: Not every branch employee would need to speak English fluently, but each branch would need at least two or three employees who could

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 18, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

All bank branches in Taiwan are expected to offer Chinese-English bilingual services by 2030, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday, reiterating the government’s goal of making Taiwan a bilingual nation.

Banks would not need to require every staff member at their branches to speak English fluently, but each branch should have at least two or three employees who can serve foreign clients, Koo told reporters after visiting two branches run by Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) and DBS Bank Taiwan (星展台灣) in Taipei’s Tianmu (天母) area.

The two branches were designated by the commission as role models for other banks, it said.

“We want banks to build a bilingual environment first and make gradual improvements as 2030 approaches,” he said.    [FULL  STORY]

AI character ‘Dai Yi Wan’ to promote ‘Taiwan can help’

Dai Yi Wan's face created from composite of 10,000 Taiwanese, including President Tsai and rival Han Kuo-yu

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/16
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An artificial intelligence character named “Dai Yi Wan” (戴怡宛), which was

AI character Dai Yi Wan. (YouTube screenshot)

created for a competition by a group of talented Taiwanese, seeks to drive home the message that “Taiwan (Dai Yi Wan) can help.”

The virtual character was born from AI technologies that blended the facial features of 10,000 Taiwanese of both sexes, her creators, 2Cities St (雙城街), said in the introduction video. The video is an entry in a creativity contest, the winners of which will represent Taiwan at the Young Lions Competitions to be held in Cannes, France, in June of next year.

Interestingly, some of the faces selected for the composite are those of prominent politicians, including presidential candidates Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), reported Liberty Times.
[FULL  STORY]

U.S. dollar down in Taipei trading

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/17
By: Frances Huang

Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) The U.S. dollar was traded at NT$30.137 at 10 a.m. Tuesday on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, down NT$0.126 from the previous close.    [SOURCE]

Cathay sees 2.3% GDP growth next year

PERSISTING TENSIONS: Cathay Financial’s forecast is more conservative than one by the government, as it expects a high level of economic certainty over the period

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 17, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s economy is expected to grow 2.3 percent next year, decelerating from 2.5 percent this year, as domestic investment slows and US-China trade tensions continue to cloud exports, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) said yesterday.

The company’s latest forecast is better than its September prediction of a 2.2 percent increase this year and 2 percent growth next year.

The upward revision came after the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) on Nov. 29 revised average economic growth between 2012 and last year from 2.33 percent to 2.73 percent, Cathay Financial said.

However, its forecasts are still lower than the DGBAS’ forecast of a 2.64 percent increase this year and 2.72 percent growth next year.    [FULL  STORY]

FAT’s poor aviation record stands out amid service suspension farce

FAT has delivered lackluster performance in terms of aviation safety and financial management

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/15
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As the abrupt suspension and then proposed resumption of Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) services turned into a farce, a look at its poor aviation record over the years has shed fresh light on the history of the troubled airline.

More than 27,000 ticket refunds have been filed since the airline announced it would halt operations on Dec. 12, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). While a review is underway for the request by FAT to resume services, weary customers have apparently lost faith in the air carrier, wrote CNA.

According to Taiwan’s aviation regulator, FAT has logged 31 aviation safety violations since 2011. The airline came to a halt in 2008 over a financing crisis involving embezzlement, and it was not until 2011 the company received a green light to take to the skies again.    [FULL  STORY]

Fuel prices in Taiwan to rise by NT$0.4 this week

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/15
By: Liao Yu-yang and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Dec. 15 (CNA) Taiwan's two major fuel suppliers on Sunday announced price hikes for this week, reversing the only price cut in nearly two months.

State-run oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan said the price of its gasoline and diesel will increase by NT$0.4 (US$0.013) per liter, from midnight Sunday.

After the increase, retail prices at CPC gas stations will be NT$27.3 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$28.8 per liter for 95 unleaded, NT$30.8 per liter for 98 unleaded, and NT$25.2 per liter for super diesel.

Fuel prices in Taiwan were adjusted lower by NT$0.2 per liter on Dec. 6, having remained the same or risen since Oct. 21.

CPC explained that international crude oil prices have risen    [FULL  STORY]

Macquarie raises TSMC target

NEW GROWTH DRIVER: Analysts said they expected TSMC’s revenue to increase 16 percent year-on-year next year, with the fourth quarter likely to be the peak again

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 16, 2019
By: Chen Cheng-hui  /  Staff reporter

Macquarie Capital Ltd has raised its 12-month target price for shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) by 10 percent to NT$385, up from NT$350, on the back of a positive long-term outlook for the chipmaker.

The new target price implies a 13.6 percent upside from the stock’s closing price of NT$339 in Taipei trading on Friday. TSMC shares have surged 50.33 percent this year.

The Australian brokerage said that TSMC is expected to report strong revenue in the first quarter of next year, driven by rising demand for chips made using its 7-nanometer (nm) process for Apple Inc’s iPhone 11 series and the iPhone SE 2.

The second quarter of next year would likely be a transition period to the next-generation iPhone — for which application processor shipments would start in the third quarter — becoming a potential low point for TSMC, Macquarie said in a research note on Friday.    [FULL  STORY]