14/02/2017 Asia Business Report

We go to Singapore for the latest business news.

The US has a new Treasury Secretary. A million-dollar write-down after US

nuclear investments. Good morning Asia, hello world. It is Tuesday.

That you could join us for Asia Business Report. I'm Rico Hizon. The

last hour, the US and is has confirmed Stephen Mnuchin as the new

Treasury Secretary. He is one of the four former Goldman Sachs employees

in Donald Trump's inner circle. Some say this goes against Donald Trump's

election promise to drain the song. He ran a foreclosure machine when he

managed a bank. This is how he responded. Since I was first

nominated to service Treasury Secretary, I have been maligned as

taking advantage of others. Hardship in order to earn a buck. Nothing

could be further from the truth. In the summer of 2008, I saw the

devastation that was caused by the housing crisis when I watched people

line up to get their life savings out of indie Mac bank. It was the

middle of the financial crisis, but despite the crisis, I saw a way to

save the bank. The new Treasury Secretary, Stephen Mnuchin.

Some estimates put it at roughly 6 billion US dollars, and so the news

broke in mid-December, it shares in Toshiba have dropped nearly 50%. And

today, they are down by nearly 4%. But the company is expected to say

how it will raise money, so what can we expect? I put that question to

Gerhard Fasol. I Buchli, they want to keep control of their flash

memory card business. If one of their competitors in the

semiconductor industry are being talked about, other people being

talked about art private equity funds, and they will want to have

some management control, which are not short Toshiba wants to give

away. -- unfortunately, they want to keep. And a fifth time high since

President Trump is up, the Dow and the NASDAQ finishing in record

territory. This is how the regional markets are opening. Investors here

are hoping that tax cuts, expected to be announced, will stoke US

corporate profits and investment. In the currency markets, that is

pushing at the value of the dollar, trading at its highest value in two

weeks against the and, at 113.50 eight. The weekend is good news for

exporters. The Japanese economy is not seen the momentum it needs to

get out of a slump. I asked a former bank of Japan member what else the

bank can do. -- Gerhard -- 113.58. The bank of Japan did

everything they can do. But now we need a way to improve our

productivity and economic growth is, and a new project. How can you

improve productivity and economic growth, because the last major move

by the bank of Japan with negative interest rates did not work? Yes. In

the case of companies, they worry about the market. And the growing

population. Now it is shrinking, the market. The companies are not eager

to invest in business investment. So the government needs to find a way

to improve this expectation on economic growth in terms of

consumers, too, they more concerned about low wage growth as economics

failed? -- has. What about the third Arrow, utilising fewer workers or

sorting out the labour shortage and importing more foreigners? The first

Arrow is economic policy, and I like to say it exists in terms of

corrective over variation we are in. That worked. I guess, right now, it

is not monetary policy issue, and so it is the third Arrow, that we must

worry about. -- arrow. I think Shinzo Abe needs to find their way

to deal with the labour shortage. There is a serious labour shortage.

So this question of employing foreign workers and female workers

needs to go with economic reform. Because everybody in Japan is

worried about the future. They think the system is not sustainable. The

boss of Ryanair says he worries that Brexit negotiations will be a

disaster triggering chaos for Travellers across Europe. Ryanair is

the biggest airline in Europe by its number of passengers. Its chief

executive Michael O'Leary said it will be difficult for the UK to be

part of the EU single aviation market. I feel it will be a

disaster. And I suspect and hope that within two years, the British

people realise that they were misled into voting for Brexit and that

leaving the single market will be very damaging for Britain, and they

would change their minds. The problem is remaining an open skies

probably involves the UK recognising the jurisdiction of the European

Court of Justice, which seems to be a red line issue, and probably

recognising the free movement of people, which is another red line

issue. And from a consumer point of view, if negotiations go badly, what

is the worst that could happen? It is not beyond the bounds of

possibility, it is unlikely, but not beyond the bounds of possibility,

that they would be no flights between the UK and Europe if they

walk off a cliff edge in 2019. If they pass the open skies agreements,

I do not think there will be a transitional agreement. They could

be chaos for a number of weeks and months, and I'm not sure that there

will be chaos, but it is really only when the British government and the

British people recognise that there will be chaos that maybe you will

get some kind of common sense prevailing. And get your rivals do

not seem to think that will happen. They think that there will be some

kind of good compromise drawn out, something constructive. I disagree.

I think the Europeans are really are... I think they have taken the

Brexit decision badly. I think the people who have claimed that the

German car manufacturers will persuade the German, the European

Union to give Britain a good deal, I think Britain will get a bad deal.

Speaking as someone who is Irish, I am in love with Britain. I want to

see the Common travel between the UK and Ireland, but I feel the

Europeans are really going to bully Britain very badly, and we will all

be bullied into pulling apart borders and having a hard policies,

and it could be damaging for the UK economy. I could be wrong, but I

think that will happen. And it British company best known for its

backless vacuum cleaners, Dyson, is opening a new factory in Singapore.

It will work on new technologies and develop existing products, like its

new drivers. The BBC Simon Atkinson asked Sir James Dyson why it had

started researching here as well. Singapore is great because there are

lots of young, very bright engineers, and we need lots of very

young bright engineers and scientists to develop the technology

we are developing. In Singapore, it 40% of graduates are engineers and

scientists. So even though England is a larger country, there are fewer

engineers coming out that we can employ. They manufactured goods in

Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, but Asia is not just

about making things to you, any more, is that? It is also a place

where sell products. It is incredibly important. It is

important for a lot of reasons. Of course, it is fast growing in terms

of population. Its wealth, its wealth generation is strong. But

above all, people here understand technology and wanted. They want the

latest technology and engineering, the latest Psion, and by that I mean

a product that does seems in an interesting way. You've been selling

in China for the past three years or so. -- the latest design. There are

issues they are with companies having their ideas stolen and

copycat products being made. How big an issue is that for Dyson? We will

have that problem there selling or not. But they respect intellectual

property. We have one about 500 cases on intellectual property

there. The Chinese courts are good. And they are applying intellectual

property law. That is great. The thing is that the Chinese people

want the real thing. They don't want a cheaper fake. They want the real

thing, which performs as it should with the right sort of quality. So

we have a good market there. From drivers to apples, and now Apple is

at a record high with $433. Thank you so much for investing your time

with us. Sport Today is next.