Sea aiming for US$6.3bn equity dealRAPID EXPANSION: The pandemic helped the gaming and onine shopping firm’s shares grow 70 percent, and now 11 million shares worth US$3.8 billion are on offerBloombergSea Ltd aims to raise US$6.3 billion in the largest equity offering of this year, which would propel Southeast Asia’s largest company’s global expansion. Including convertible bonds, the overall deal would be the biggest equity raise since the one by T-Mobile US Inc in June last year. The deal, offered via Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Bank of America, comes at a time of resurgence in cross-border issuance from Asia. Sea’s latest raising of capital follows a US$2.6 billion stock sale in December last year and a US$1.35 billion deal in 2019. Sea is now turning to fintech for further growth beyond gaming and e-commerce, while also expanding beyond the region.

FSC to ease online loan regulationsBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Financial Supervisor Commission (FSC) is planning to relax regulations on Web-based consumer lending at banks, as the government seeks to create a comprehensive digital banking environment, the commission said yesterday. Current regulations allow online loan applications, but require banks to adopt stricter identity authentication standards for Web-based applications than for those who apply at a physical branch, the commission said. The requirements include identification via videoconference or the use of encrypted digital tokens, the commission said. Authentication would also include questions about regular account activity, including transfers or transactions, Lin said. The accounts have a limit on individual transfers of NT$10,000, while the daily transfer amount is capped at NT$30,000, the commission said.

US growth lower amid shortages of labor, supplyAFP, WASHINGTONUS economic growth “downshifted slightly” in July and last month amid shortages of workers and materials, as well as concerns about the rise of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. The US surge in COVID-19 infections has led to the return of some restrictions and delayed the return of workers to some offices. A sustained rise in inflation is a concern for the White House, which on Wednesday announced an initiative to slow rising meat prices. Linking consolidation in the meat industry to food price increases, the White House said it would invest US$1.4 billion aimed at small businesses in the food supply chain. The Fed report said that sales of vehicles and homes in the US were depressed by low inventory, but construction rose modestly.

The high polling numbers suggest that the majority supports the government’s cross-strait policy, MAC Deputy Minister Lee Li-jane (李麗珍) told an online news briefing. The poll showed that 83.9 percent of respondents support President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) stance that Taiwan’s only option is to build up its strength, solidarity and defensive capabilities. Furthermore, 64 percent support stricter examinations of Chinese citizens attempting to enter Taiwan, it said. More than 85 percent said that only the Taiwanese public can determine Taiwan’s future and the development of cross-strait relations, it showed. Any political negotiations, without a public mandate, would run counter to the majority opinion, Lee added.

Mega Financial seeks to hike earningsIMPROVING MARKET: Overseas banking has gained momentum as vaccination rates improve, with operations in Australia soaring 175 percent since January, the bank saidBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterState-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) aims to reach profitability for the rest of year by boosting corporate lending, retail banking and overseas operations, company officials told an online investors’ conference yesterday. Photo courtesy of Mega Bank“The macro-environment has improved as the world becomes better equipped in dealing with the [COVID-19] pandemic,” Mega Financial president David Hu (胡光華) said, referring to vaccine rollouts worldwide. Mega Financial said it saw an opportunity to deepen lending with local semiconductor and petrochemical firms that have announced plans to invest in the US and elsewhere. The government’s promotion of renewable energy sources and a global embrace of 5G technologies would also generate loan demand, Mega Financial said. Shares in Mega Financial ended down 0.62 percent to NT$32.3 yesterday, bucking the TAIEX’s 0.2 percent rise, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

China is Taiwan’s sworn enemyBy Lai Yen-cheng 賴彥丞During a speech at the Ketagalan Forum’s 2021 Asia-Pacific Security Dialogue on Tuesday last week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) referred to “neighboring countries,” which some interpreted to include China. Taiwan’s pan-blue camp was incandescent with rage and claimed that Tsai’s choice of words would lead to “cross-strait conflict.”The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was predictably hopping mad. The party’s pro-Beijing credentials were on full display as it demanded the president take into account Beijing’s reaction before opening her mouth. Is it any wonder that a recent opinion poll showed that Taiwanese voters display more antipathy toward the KMT than any other political party? It is maddening that the treacherous KMT continues to exist, for China is not just a neighbor: It is Taiwan’s sworn enemy.

COVID-19: Government should raise vaccine coverage: expertBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe government should increase first-dose COVID-19 vaccination coverage in people aged 12 and older, as well as the second-dose coverage in people aged 60 and older, amid an outbreak of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, National Taiwan University College of Public Health professor Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. Chen said that he suspects that one of the pilots was the first to contract COVID-19, possibly when he was in Chicago between Aug. 23 and 26. While the one-dose vaccination coverage of adults is nearly 50 percent, and the coverage in people aged 60 and older is more than 70 percent, the second-dose vaccination coverage is still very low in all age groups, he said. With Taiwan facing possible community spread of the Delta variant, Chen said his research team has suggested a vaccination policy. He said the goal is to increase the first-dose vaccination coverage to 90 percent, while at the same time increasing the second-dose vaccination coverage in people aged 60 and older to 90 percent.

COVID-19: Preschool cluster confirmed as Delta variantCOMPLICATED: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said the 10 preschool cases shared a genome sequence, but that it differed from the aircrew cluster’s sequenceBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterA cluster of 23 infections at a preschool in New Taipei City have been confirmed as being from the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei TimesThe first case in the preschool cluster was reported on Sunday, a preschool teacher, while several preschool students and their family members tested positive in the following days, he said. Chen said that 1,013 close contacts of the preschool cluster have been placed in home isolation and 49 are practicing self-health management. Among them, 358 have tested negative, 22 have tested positive and 633 are waiting for their results, he said. Genome sequencing on virus samples collected from 10 cases in the preschool cluster showed that they are all infected with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, he added.

Bitcoin battered after debut as tender in El SalvadorReuters, TOKYOBitcoin licked its wounds yesterday, a day after its heaviest losses in two-and-a-half months, as El Salvador’s historic adoption of the crypto asset as legal tender caused chaos online and on the streets. ANTICIPATIONA woman protests the use of bitcoin as legal tender in San Salvador on Tuesday. It was a historical day for bitcoin as El Salvador’s experiment of making it legal tender got off to a bumpy start. As bitcoin wobbled, Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele said his government purchased an additional 150 bitcoins on Tuesday, worth about US$7 million. “That has underscored the difficulty in trying to protect the value of bitcoin as its own currency,” Monex Securities chief economist Nana Otsuki said.

Intel to invest billions to boost EU chip capacityReutersIntel Corp on Tuesday said it could invest as much as 80 billion euros (US$94.53 billion) in Europe over the next decade to boost the region’s chip capacity and would open up its semiconductor plant in Ireland for automakers. The Intel Corp logo is pictured at the entrance to the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 2, 2010. The aim is to create a center of innovation in Europe, for Europe,” Gelsinger said. The “Intel Foundry Services Accelerator” is aimed at helping automakers learn to make chips using what Intel calls its “Intel 16” chip manufacturing technology and later move to its “Intel 3” and “Intel 18A” technologies. Intel said nearly 100 automakers and key suppliers — including BMW AG, Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG and Robert Bosch GmbH — had expressed support for its programs.

Amazon to open two cashierless Whole Foods storesAP, NEW YORKThere will be something missing at two Whole Foods Market Inc stores opening next year: the rows of cashiers. Amazon.com Inc, which owns the grocery chain, yesterday said that it would bring its cashierless technology to two Whole Foods stores for the first time, letting shoppers grab what they need and leave without having to open their wallets. Amazon first unveiled the cashierless technology in 2018 at an Amazon Go convenience store and has expanded it to larger Amazon supermarkets, but it would be the first time it has appeared at Whole Foods, a chain of more than 500 grocery stores Amazon bought four years ago. They are to be stocked with the typical Whole Foods fare, including seafood, fresh-squeezed orange juice and organic vegetables. It also declined to say if it plans to bring the technology to more Whole Foods locations.

DPP lawmakers call for foreign mission renamingBy Lu Yi-hsuan and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe government should use “Taiwan” for its 91 de facto embassies in foreign countries, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) and Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said yesterday. The lawmakers made the remark at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei calling on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish a task force for this purpose. The Taiwan Representative Office in the Republic of Somaliland, inaugurated last year, is the only representative office using the name, and a planned office in Lithuania is expected to become the second. All Taiwan’s representative offices — including those in the US and Japan — should be renamed, Chiu said. Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said that the ministry appreciates the lawmakers’ suggestion, but a representative office can only be renamed with the host nation’s consent.

Japan upgrades GDP on raised business spendingReuters, TOKYOJapan’s economy grew faster than initially estimated in the April-to-June quarter, helped by solid capital expenditure, although a resurgence in COVID-19 is undermining service-sector consumption and clouding the outlook. A worker checks a spool of recycled paper at a Corelex Shinei Co toilet paper factory in Fuji, Japan, on Tuesday. Japan’s GDP expanded at an annualized pace of 1.9 percent in the three months to June. “Japan’s recovery is lagging behind other advanced economies. Private consumption, which accounts for more than half of Japan’s GDP, grew 0.9 percent from April to June compared with the previous three months, up slightly from a preliminary estimate of a 0.8 percent gain.

Organizers of Tiananmen vigil arrested by HK policeAFP, HONG KONGHong Kong police yesterday arrested four members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the group behind annual vigils for the Tiananmen Square Massacre, a day after they refused to cooperate with a national security investigation. Hong Kong Alliance vice chairwoman Chow Han-tung speaks to reporters in Hong Kong on Sunday. “Anyone who has violated the National Security Law of Hong Kong and other laws of Hong Kong must be punished by the law,” the Chinese National Security Bureau in Hong Kong said. “Even before a trial begins, Hong Kong Alliance is presumed guilty. It completely violates the presumption of innocence in the past,” former Hong Kong lawmaker Nathan Law (羅冠聰) said.

Wong Chi-huey honoredStaff writer, with CNAFormer Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) is likely to become the first person in Taiwan to receive the Welch Award in Chemistry, anonymous sources have said. The purpose of the award is “to foster and encourage basic chemical research and to recognize, in a substantial manner, the value of chemical research contributions for the benefit of humankind,” the foundation’s Web site says. Chemist and former Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey sits at his desk in an undated photograph. Wong, who had been impeached because of bribery charges related to OBI Pharma Inc (浩鼎), in 2016 resigned from his position as the president of Academia Sinica. Some say Wong could have won the award a few years earlier, but was hampered by the charges.