Taiwan plans ETF for mainland stocks

    TAIWAN will launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) platform for investors to trade mainland stocks this year, Taiwan’s financial supervisory authority said yesterday.

    The proposed ETF platform would allow Taiwan fund managers to invest in mainland stocks under the mainland’s RQFII program, or the renminbi-qualified foreign institutional investor program, which permits overseas investors to use yuan deposits at financial institutions to invest in Chinese mainland securities. The passage of the ETF platform is largely contingent on the passage of a trade-services pact between Taiwan and the mainland, which has been held up in Taiwan’s legislature on concerns over its impact on local industry.

    Gome founder to pay company back US$54m

    THE former chairman of Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd. and his wife have agreed to pay the Chinese home appliance retailer HK$420 million (US$54 million) in compensation for breaches of duties related to share repurchases, the Hong Kong securities watchdog said Tuesday.

    In legal proceedings, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission had alleged that Gome’s ex-chairman Huang Guangyu and his wife, Du Juan, who is also a former director of Gome, had organized share repurchases in 2008 to raise cash to repay a HK$2.4 billion personal loan to a financial institution.

    Harbin Bank to start premarketing for IPO

    HARBIN Bank plans to start gauging investor interest Thursday for its US$1 billion Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), becoming the latest mainland financial firm to seek a listing in Hong Kong.

    Harbin Bank, which is based in the northeastern Chinese city of the same name, received listing approval from the Hong Kong stock exchange Tuesday and aims to list by the end of March, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday.

    ZTE forms venture for game console

    ZTE Corp., China’s second-biggest maker of phone network equipment, has formed a venture with online game developer The9 Ltd. to make a gaming console after the nation lifted a 14-year-ban on the devices.

    ZTE9 Network Technology (Wuxi) Co. plans to release the Fun Box console this month, Qin Yina, a spokeswoman for Shenzhen-based ZTE said yesterday. The Fun Box, powered by Nvidia Corp.’s Tegra 4 chip, will only be sold in China, Qin said.