21/03/2017 Asia Business Report

the formal exit process, on 29 March.

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

Drummer in court. The 94-year-old founder of South Korean company

challenges charges of corruption. And we will talk about what is going

on in Australia's banks, as Westpac faces trial over lending practices.

It is a Tuesday, everyone. Glad you could join us for this edition of

Asia Business Report, I am Rico Hizon. Another week, another South

Korean business leader in court. This time it was the elderly founder

of one of the country's largest conglomerates. The 94-year-old is

accused of embezzlement and breach of trust. He appeared in court

alongside his son and one of his daughters. They also stand accused

of embezzling money but save the payments were arranged by their

father. At the drama for Lotte doesn't stop in the courtroom. South

has filed a complaint over the treatment of Lotte's businesses in

China. Nearly 80% of its supermarket there have been closed by

authorities. This coincides with a row over the US anti-missile defence

system which is being planned in South Korea. Lotte own the land

where it is going to be built, so will complaining to the World Trade

Organization have any effect? I put the question to a trade expert. It

is a little unclear. I think the problem is you are trying to have a

discussion about a missile defence system in a trade organisation. That

is a little challenging. At the WTO, you have to claim that you violated

the WTO agreement, that you violated some measure that was a trade

commitment that China made, and I think this is going to be a

challenging case, because China is likely to argue that it has closed

those department stores, those supermarkets, for violations of

electrical wiring, for plumbing, for inspections of some other sort. It

could be challenging. It could be challenging, but studying the

complaint of the South Koreans against the Chinese, and what the

Chinese have done, could this lead to anything? Could there be any

loopholes? It is possible. You can argue discrimination is the big

challenge. So are you discriminating against South Korean companies? Have

you done this with other companies? It is possible. The big issue is

whether or not, these services sectors, so retail as a services

sector. The Chinese have also clamped down by broadcast on South

Korean TV and radio stations. -- clampdown on broadcast. You have to

see whether China already agreed to open the sectors. That is where it

gets tricky. China in general, like many other services, did not make a

lot of pledges to open those up. So they are not violating WTO rules, if

you are not violating WTO rules, you can't bring a claim. US President

Donald Trump has already brought America out of a deal with Pacific

countries, and next minute sites is the North American Free Trade

Agreement. Nafta regulate trade between the US, Canada and Mexico

and since its introduction exports of US beef have soared. So how will

its renegotiation impact ranchers? Our correspondent went to find out.

This man is a fifth-generation cattle ranch. My family has been

raising capital since 1915, so a little over 100 years. A significant

number of his Brahman cattle and are being sold abroad, including just

south of the border in Mexico. We have been dealing in international

trade since 1933 wins on when we first exported cattle to Australia.

City export market is important to you. Export market is very important

to our organisation. Some years we have seen our international sales be

85% of all the business that we did that year. In the North American

Free Trade Agreement is really important for those exports. It

allows his beef to enter Mexico duty-free. So any changes could hurt

him and other American cattle ranchers. Donald Trump enjoyed

strong support in rural communities like this one, as well as the

rustbelt. Now the challenge is, can he come up with a trade policy that

can help both manufacturing and farming? In the state capital,

Boston, the Texas agricultural commissioner called for calm. Syd

Millar was part of the Trump campaign's advisory Council --

Austin. Like the President, he believes changing Nafta is a good

thing, even if it shakes things up. I predicted that. I said when this

president takes office it will be a rocky start. He will upset people,

it will rock the boat, we will renegotiate deals, and people who

have a sweet deal are not going to want to renegotiate. A honeymoon

with the cattle industry isn't over yet, but is it starting to fray?

According to this cattle dealer, Trump's decision to walk away from

the transpacific partnership, a trade pact with Asia, meant lost

dollars four ranchers. You can qualify TPP today, so what could be

going to those countries today is about $400,000 worth of beef that

would be going, that is not today. So that is a quantifiable number.

Ranchers fear they may end up a casualty of Donald Trump's trade

policy. They are hoping his tough stance on Nafta is just an opening

negotiating tactic. Well, Brexit is also full of unknowns, but we now

have one certainty, which is a date, and that is on the 28th of March,

which is next Wednesday. The British Prime Minister officially notified

the EU that the UK is leaving the union. Let's hear what Theresa May

had to say. When people voted in the referendum last year, it wasn't just

about leaving the European Union, I think they voted for change. They

voted for a change in the way the country works, to make sure it works

for everyone, not just a privileged few. And as part of that, we want to

build, we have a plan for Britain and part of that is about building a

stronger economy. Theresa May that, the UK's prime minister. In other

business newsmaking headlines, Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates, has

again topped the Forbes list of the world's richest people, whose

fortune rising from a whopping $85 billion of US. Next on the list,

investor Warren Buffett. It was bad news for US President Donald Trump,

with his $3.5 billion, he slipped 220 spots to 544. The

telecommunications landscape in India is changing dramatically after

two big mergers. British mobile phone giant Vodafone is joining Idea

cellular. Our correspondent in Mumbai explains why these companies

are rushing to get bigger. It was a merger month in the making and was

expected to be announced but a lot of fanfare. But in the end it turned

out to be very low key, with even camera is not allowed inside this

hotel where the press conference was held to reveal the details of the

deal. Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have agreed on the terms of

their marriage, but their real work for the telecom operators starts

now. It will take around 24 months for the companies to fully combined,

and there are still a number of issues to iron out. We do know that

Idea Cellular's boss will be the chairman of the new entity, but it

is still not clear who will be the chief executive, and perhaps more

crucially, there were no details on what the new brand will be called,

or what it will look like. Vodafone and Idea are two of the most

distinctive brands in the country so finding it compromises that speaks

to its customer base will be a challenge. Job cuts are also on the

cards, with both firms aligning operations to cut costs. That said,

the merger could mean good news for customers. By joining forces,

Vodafone and Idea will be well placed to slash prices. The launch

of Jio 4G last year, owned by India's richest man, shook up the

telecoms market. The company is offering free voice calls for life

and internet data at dirt cheap prices. With 300 million people

expected to start using smartphones in the next three years, competition

is only just starting. Australia's fourth biggest bank, Westpac goes to

court to defend its lending practices. The companies regulator

suggests Westpac was approving home loans based on calculation is that

were not realistic. I asked Peter Ryan from ABC News in Sydney how

serious these charges. They are all very serious, and this goes to the

reputation of Westpac, which is Australia's second-biggest bank by

market capitalisation, and it really flows into the overall distaste

about banks in Australia at the moment in this federal court

hearing. Westpac is accused of not using proper lending practices in

giving out loans between 2011 and 2015. As you said in your

introduction, not ensuring that people would be able to repay their

loans. In the backdrop, all of Australia's big four banks are in

the frame, with the securities regulators, and on the national

political scene there is growing pressure for a royal commission into

the behaviour of Australia's major banks. Peter Ryan from ABC News.

With that we end this edition of Asia Business Report. Have a great

day, everyone. I am Rico Hizon.