:00:16. > :00:24.Uber hits a roadblock in Taiwan. What does this mean for the future
:00:25. > :00:35.of this ridesharing application in Asia and what has rocked the luxury
:00:36. > :00:40.housing industry in the US? Good morning, Asia. Hello, world. Glad
:00:41. > :00:46.you could join us for this Tuesday edition of Asia Business Report.
:00:47. > :00:53.Uber is planning a new move after it was banned in Taiwan. This is not
:00:54. > :00:57.the first time the firm has faced resistance from local governments.
:00:58. > :01:04.From London to Jakarta taxi drivers have gone on strike saying that
:01:05. > :01:13.Uber's business model is not safe and has unfair competition. It needs
:01:14. > :01:16.to be signed into law. Here is a response from their regional
:01:17. > :01:22.manager. We will cross that bridge when we get to it. At the moment we
:01:23. > :01:27.are working very hard to educate and communicate with the president in
:01:28. > :01:33.Taiwan to make sure she knows that more than a million people in Taiwan
:01:34. > :01:39.have downloaded the Uber app. And they will be the ones who suffer if
:01:40. > :01:43.Uber is not allowed. Is this not just a formality? It has already
:01:44. > :01:48.been passed by the regulatory body and has been signed by the
:01:49. > :01:55.president. Uber is something new. Because it is innovative we have
:01:56. > :01:59.been in sticky spots all over the world. We are good at getting past.
:02:00. > :02:02.We just want to sit down at the table with the Taiwanese government
:02:03. > :02:08.to come up with new regulation to allow ridesharing applications. You
:02:09. > :02:13.are right because you always push the envelope in terms of rules and
:02:14. > :02:19.regulations. Uber's technology is new. It has never existed before the
:02:20. > :02:27.Cosby smartphone wasn't around before. -- because the. We need to
:02:28. > :02:32.work with the government to educate them about why new regulations are
:02:33. > :02:36.required in Taiwan. If the president does not veto this law and it is
:02:37. > :02:42.signed, does this mean we will not see Uber on the roads? You will
:02:43. > :02:46.abide by the law? Like I said, we will cross that bridge when it
:02:47. > :02:52.comes. What I can say is today more than 10,000 Taiwanese citizens rely
:02:53. > :02:55.on Uber to make money. Whether it is mothers needing flexible work
:02:56. > :03:00.because their children are at school or people who are caring for their
:03:01. > :03:04.families at hospital, Uber provides flexible work. So we want to fight
:03:05. > :03:09.like heck to make sure they can continue to make money from Uber.
:03:10. > :03:14.Apart from Taiwan, you are in many countries, more than a dozen in the
:03:15. > :03:18.Asia-Pacific region. Where are you profitable? We don't give out
:03:19. > :03:23.information about profitability yet because we are still a privately
:03:24. > :03:28.held company so I am not at discretion. But we are growing like
:03:29. > :03:33.an weed across all of the Asia-Pacific. Clearly we have
:03:34. > :03:38.something consumers love. Micheal from Uber in the Asia-Pacific. In
:03:39. > :03:43.other business news making headlines in India, the boardroom battle is
:03:44. > :03:47.over for now. The former Tata chairman had resigned from the board
:03:48. > :03:52.of old Tata group listed companies. He has vowed to push for better
:03:53. > :04:00.corporate governance. His resignation comes ahead of several
:04:01. > :04:05.meetings at Qatar steel and Tata Motors to remove him from their
:04:06. > :04:08.boards. -- Tata Steel. Christine Lagarde has been found guilty over
:04:09. > :04:13.negligence over a huge compensation payment made eight years ago when
:04:14. > :04:20.she was the French Finance Minister. Christine Lagarde always denied
:04:21. > :04:27.wrongdoing. The court has decided not to hand down any punishment.
:04:28. > :04:32.Thousands of passengers around the world for virgin could come to a
:04:33. > :04:34.halt. Grounded workers are threatening industrial action
:04:35. > :04:40.starting Friday in a dispute over pay. This comes ahead of the peak
:04:41. > :04:46.travel season with Christmas and New Year's just around the corner. When
:04:47. > :04:51.I spoke to the man who is their spokesman, I asked him how would
:04:52. > :04:55.this impacts travellers around Asia? It would have a major impact. But
:04:56. > :05:00.with British Airways, you are looking at 12- 15% of the workforce
:05:01. > :05:05.looking to go on strike. Still, they could create inconvenience and
:05:06. > :05:10.issues for the error line and the network. -- airline. That would
:05:11. > :05:18.affect places like Japan where they have a joint operation with Japan
:05:19. > :05:23.Airlines. The other one is Virgin. It is not an absolute strike but
:05:24. > :05:28.they will follow the contract specifically and provide no
:05:29. > :05:31.flexibility. That could create disruptions. Disruptions and
:05:32. > :05:41.inconvenience. This is something like travellers that you and I don't
:05:42. > :05:45.want. What are these airlines such as BA and Virgin Atlantic being
:05:46. > :05:50.squeezed financially? It is a big struggle in the global aviation
:05:51. > :05:55.industry to keep costs low. They are squeezed on the European side by
:05:56. > :06:01.low-cost carriers like RyanAir who are good at keeping costss though.
:06:02. > :06:06.The major costs for airlines is cabin crew. Fuel is an equal thing
:06:07. > :06:11.for all airlines depending on their hedging. One area you can try to cut
:06:12. > :06:17.cost is cabin crew. How are they trying to cut costs on terms of
:06:18. > :06:24.cabin crew? Like mentioned, the Middle Eastern airlines are good at
:06:25. > :06:27.adapting to this. Cutting things like benefits and allowances and the
:06:28. > :06:32.amount of money you can actually earned working for the airline.
:06:33. > :06:35.People like Emirates and others in the Asia-Pacific, their cabin crew
:06:36. > :06:42.are paid less. That is the nature of that part of the world. So for
:06:43. > :06:46.European and US carriers, it is difficult to manage pay expectations
:06:47. > :06:51.of the crew. What about hedging on jet fuel costs? We have seen it come
:06:52. > :07:01.down significantly in the past two years from $100 to 40- $50. It makes
:07:02. > :07:08.it easy to make money as an airline on its own but everyone is
:07:09. > :07:15.benefiting. Some carriers have good ability to make money from it but
:07:16. > :07:22.others lose money from low cost oil. It affects everyone fairly evenly.
:07:23. > :07:28.Greg from Flight Global. Chinese government researches say that the
:07:29. > :07:35.yuan is expected to weaken another 3- 5% in 2017. That is on top of the
:07:36. > :07:46.6.5% drop the sea. Combined with the restrictions of sending money
:07:47. > :07:54.overseas, it could impact the US. We have asked a person that Chinese
:07:55. > :07:57.wealth has that per cent of his business is the pillar it dipped
:07:58. > :08:03.this year and the reason has been multifaceted. It has been quite
:08:04. > :08:08.difficult. Recently we have had many deals that were not made because
:08:09. > :08:12.they could not get the money out. Also, the Chinese economy took a hit
:08:13. > :08:18.last year and this year as well. It is twofold. Was there any
:08:19. > :08:21.nervousness in the market ahead of the US election? There was a lot of
:08:22. > :08:28.nervousness ahead of the election. People were nervous about where we
:08:29. > :08:32.were calling. And I think that made it questionable for people. --
:08:33. > :08:36.going. The markets were slow prior to the election. It was interesting,
:08:37. > :08:40.right after the election, many people moved forward from all over
:08:41. > :08:45.the globe. Are there any signs about what a Donald Trump presidency will
:08:46. > :08:49.mean for real estate? Donald Trump has something that will help in
:08:50. > :08:55.benefiting the real estate market. He intends to lower taxation for the
:08:56. > :08:59.wealthy which really does help in making wealthy people... They want
:09:00. > :09:03.to continue to invest in high-level properties. And there will be a
:09:04. > :09:09.trickle-down effect. Donald Trump is a real estate guru. That is
:09:10. > :09:12.something special to him in his heart. And I think he will make sure
:09:13. > :09:18.that real estate is very secure moving forward. Does the Great
:09:19. > :09:22.Firewall of China have an impact? It is one of the challenges in dealing
:09:23. > :09:26.with the Chinese market. That wall is difficult to break. So in
:09:27. > :09:30.general, when you have international buyers, it is easy for them to
:09:31. > :09:35.Google and do their own research. But with the Chinese we have to work
:09:36. > :09:40.differently and we do a lot of phone conversations and e-mails and work
:09:41. > :09:48.in a different manner to get beyond that. Aaron. He specialises in the
:09:49. > :09:52.luxury real estate market. He was speaking to the BBC. And now for a
:09:53. > :09:56.quick look at the markets. As you can see right now, a mixed bag for
:09:57. > :10:00.the Asia-Pacific markets. Thin trading ahead of the Christmas
:10:01. > :10:07.holiday season. This is after US stocks finished modestly higher
:10:08. > :10:12.overnight. The NASDAQ composite index is continuing to be in
:10:13. > :10:16.positive territory led by Disney following a strong opening weekend
:10:17. > :10:22.performance of its latest Star Wars movie franchise, Rogue One. As for
:10:23. > :10:29.the US dollar, crawling back into positive territory. It has improved
:10:30. > :10:37.to its strongest in nearly a decade. Thank you so much for investing your
:10:38. > :10:40.time with us. I am Rico Hizon. Sport Today is up next.