China’s Ministry of Culture announced that it has punished eight enterprises for violating regulations in the art industry. The violations included trading for forged art, forbidden content, and using animals, plants, minerals, metals and fossils banned by law. It also punished companies that sold unapproved imported art. [READ ALSO: China Art Financial’s Revenue Surges 64.4% in 2016] The punishment forms part of China’s beefed up effort to protect the country’s art industry. According to the ministry, companies should file and clearly label information and sales records of arts to avoid regulatory consequences. It also ordered all local agencies concern to…
Author: Business News Asia
Business News Asia
BusinessNewsAsia.com's Editorial team is composed of experienced professional journalist and financial professionals who have an average of 10 years of experience in financial and breaking news reportage.
The World Bank has trimmed its growth for Indonesia from 5.3 percent to 5.2 percent this year, citing global uncertainty and rising inflation. In its quarterly report, the bank said consumption may be burdened by rising inflation because of price hikes in government-set rates like electricity tariffs. If this inflation lingers, consumer spending is seen to be affected and eventually taking a toll on the country’s growth. [READ ALSO: Indonesia Now Has 42 Reinsurance Brokerage Firms] As this happens, the Bank Indonesia may be also left with no choice but to impose tighter monetary policy, which might also shoo away…
PHILIPPINES – Performance 360, a homegrown business process outsourcing (BPO) firm based in Cordova town, has announced plans to hire 10,000 workers around the country within five years. To achieve the goal, Michael Cubos, founder of Performance 360, said the company will partner with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). Cubos said he recently came to an informal agreement with the DICT to help bring development and jobs to the countryside by setting up BPO services there. [READ ALSO: US BPO Firm Hiring 10,000 Filipinos After Opening New Site] Cubos said they expect to hire at least 50…
The Department of Tourism (DOT) in the Philippines has warned the public of the proliferation of fake travel agencies online that are offering too-good-to-be-true travel packages both for domestic and international destinations. With the number of fake travel agencies victims continues to rise, the DOT said the public should be cautious when dealing with online travel agents and booking trips online. READ ALSO: Air Juan Launches Iloilo-Boracay, Iloilo-Cuyo Flights DOT Assistant Secretary Daniel Mercado said one of the best ways to determine if the travel agency one is dealing with is legitimate is to check with the website of the…
Philippine charter airline Air Juan has launched its Iloilo-Caticlan and Iloilo-Cuyo flights to provide tourists direct access to the islands of Boracay and Palawan from Iloilo. Air Juan will utilize its brand new Grand Caravan landplanes that can carry nine passengers and two crew members. Tourism stakeholders said the new flights come at a right time considering that tourist number in the island of Boracay and Palawan is expected to rise with the Holy Week and the summer season. A charter airline that started in 2010, Air Juan holds an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) issued by the Civil Aviation Authority…
Nippon Life Insurance Company, Japan’s largest life insurer by revenue, today announced that it has signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The PRI, which was signed by Nippon Life President Yoshinobu Tsutsui, is a set of principles aiming to realize a sustainable society by proposing that institutional investors incorporate environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues in their investment decisions. “By signing the PRI, we will be able to announce our ESG initiatives globally and express our efforts to meet social responsibilities as a life insurance company,” Nippon Life said in a statement. The company added that…
Business process services provider Conduent, a company originally created as a divesiture from Xerox, has named Lokesh Prasad as Chief Executive Officer of Conduent India. Conduent said Prasad will be responsible for further developing the US$6.5 billion company’s presence in India. In a statement, CEO Ashok Vemuris aid Prasad’s background will help Conduent India push the envelope of tech-led business services and expand its already impressive workforce. Prasad, who will be based in Gurgaon, is also tasked to growth the 10,000-employee workforce of the company in India. READ ALSO: Convergent Outsourcing Opens New Center in the Philippines He previously served…
Convergent Outsourcing, one of America’s leading collections agencies, has announced the opening of its new customer contact center in Iloilo City, the Philippines. The new contact center is located in the Megaworld Business District, directly across from the Iloilo City Convention Center, and covers covers more than 30,600 square feet of office space and has over 400 employee workstations. “The new center in Iloilo is a result of our steady growth, the desire to create a ‘follow the sun’ solution for our clients, and the abundance of highly talented contact handling resources in Iloilo,” said Mike Meyer CEO of Convergent.…
CEBU CITY – Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 arrested three Romanian nationals suspected of having involvement in the series of automated teller machine (ATM) card skimming in Cebu that compromised at least 2,000 accounts. The three suspects – Lonup Alesandrou, Razvan Aurelian, and Cosal Ion – were first invited by the NBI for questioning at around 1 pm Friday based on footage of the CCTV installed at the Land Bank of the Philippines branch in barangay Banilad. The suspects were questioned because CCTV footage saw them visiting the Landbank ATM machines several times. Special Investigator Florante…
Rexahn Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:RNN) and Lifetime Brands Inc (NASDAQ:LCUT) are taking the early lead in today’s trading, gaining 15 percent and 9 percent, respectively, at the opening bell. Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of treatments for cancer, is trading at 0.527 a share after it received consensus recommendation of Buy by analysts. There was no market moving corporate disclosures in the first hour of trading. Meanwhile, Lifetime Brands, which designs, sources and sells branded kitchenware, tableware and other products used in the home, was already gaining 9.52 percent as of this writing. The…
SIG plc (LON:SHI), a distributor of specialist building products in Europe, saw its stock up 9.33 percent at the London Stock Exchange Tuesday after it released its full year 2016 results. SIG was trading at GBP117.50 Tuesday afternoon, with 10.6 million shares exchanging hands. The stock’s range for today was 111.80 – 120.30 a share. SIG’s stock gained following the release of the company’s 2016 full year result Tuesday, which showed revenue up 11.2 percent to GBP2.739 billion from GBP2.463 billion a year earlier. Underlying operating profit, however, dropped 8.6% to GBP91.3 million from GBP99.9 million while profit before tax…
An American outsourcing company has announced plans to hire at least 10,000 Filipinos to meet the growing clients’ demand for customer engagement experts. Alorica, the largest provider of customer experience solutions to the US market, announced plans to hire 10,000 Filipinos to serve its fast growing client base and internal global support requirements. The announcement was made during the company’s inauguration of its newest site in Makati City, The Alorica Center. The new facility features inspiring work spaces for the company’s growing workforce in the Philippines, which now totals more than 35,000 team members. READ ALSO: BPO Firms Remain Philippines’…
The General Insurance Association (GIA) said total gross premiums of Singapore’s general insurance industry grew a mere 0.6 percent to S$3.7 billion (US$2.61 billion) in 2016. In an announcement Tuesday, GIA said domestic and external headwinds hit margins of general insurers in Singapore last year, resulting to a slight drop in underwriting profit. For the overall industry, the underwriting profit declined to S$257.6 million in 2016 from S$310 million a year earlier. The motor insurance class saw its premiums remain mostly stable last year as new market entrants provided motorists with more choices, the association said. READ ALSO: iFashion Group…
The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) is organizing the 2nd IT-BPM Summit on Cyber Security this coming March 29, 2017 at the Marriott Hotel, Pasay City, the Philippines. With the theme “Enhancing Capabilities to Combat Evolving Cyber Threats,” this year’s summit brings together the experts and top practitioners in the fields of advanced security automation, threat intelligence, and security analytics solutions. They will demonstrate how available tools, technologies, processes and policy frameworks can be implemented to reduce risk and significantly improve cyber security in the IT-BPM industry. Focus is being given on meeting the critical need…
The number of reinsurance brokerage companies in Indonesia now stands at 42 after the country’s financial services regulator granted operational licenses to two new reinsurance brokers. The Financial Services Authority (OJK) issued the operational licenses to JLT Reinsurance Brokers and Inare Proteksi International early this month. The two reinsurance brokers were allowed to commence operations last week. “The two companies are required to always conduct healthy business practices and abide by the law,” OJK director for non-bank financial industry supporting services Tattys Miranti Hedyana said in an official statement. Non-bank financial industry support services refer to the business sector that…
International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI; PSE:ICT) has informed the Philippine Stock Exchange that it has formally opened Puerto Aguadulce, a joint venture terminal in the Port of Buenaventura, Colombia. The terminal is operated by Sociedad Puerto Industrial de Aguadulce, the joint venture company of ICTSI and PSA International. The opening was led by Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos. The first phase of the US$550 million world class multi-user container and bulk handling facility can handle mega container vessels with capacities of up to 18,000 TEUs. One of the leading port groups in the world, PSA brings to the table…
Apollo Minerals Limited (ASX:AON) is acquiring Ariege Tungstene SAS, the company in joint venture with Variscan over the Couflens exploration licence in France. The acquisition gives Apollo Minerals an 80 percent interest in the joint venture, with Variscan free-carried at 20 percent until a definitive feasibility study is completed or a total expenditure of AU$35 million. The Couflens licence covers an area of 42 square kilometers around the historic Salau tungsten mine. Salau was one of the highest grade tungsten mines in the world. Variscan considers that Salau has very good potential to be brought back into production within a…
Global information technology services firm Ciber Inc (NYSE:CBR) saw its stock gaining more than 100 percent in today’s trading at the New York Stock Exchange after AMERI Holdings Inc announced a merger proposal. The stock gained 0.270 to trade at 0.550 a share, with 7.618 million shares exchanging hands. Ciber’s range for the day reached as high as 0.640 and a low of 0.433 a share. Before the market opened, AMERI Holdings announced a merger proposal to Ciber, valuing the company at a price of $0.75 per share. The AMERI Group owns approximately 4.5 million shares of CBR, representing 5.5%…
A survey conducted by BAV Consulting and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has ranked Malaysia as the best country to invest in this year, ahead of second place Singapore, India (6th), Thailand (7th) and Indonesia (10th). The ranking is based on scores from over 6,000 business decision makers on country attributes. These include corruption, dynamic, economically stable, entrepreneurial, favourable tax environment, innovative, skilled labor force, and technological expertise. Malaysia scored at least 30 points more than any other country on a 100-point scale. American publication U.S. News & World Report said Malaysia is one of the top recipients…
AIA Group Limited, the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group, has announced the retirement of of its Group Chief Executive and President Mark Tucker, who is set to become the next chairman of HSBC. In a statement Monday, AIA said Tucker has informed the board of directors of the company of his intention to retire from his executive positions with the company and its subsidiaries and take up the role of non-executive Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings. The board of AIA also announced that Ng Keng Hooi, AIA Regional Chief Executive, has been appointed Group Chief Executive and…