Fidelity International to cut 16% of China unit staff, Longi lays off 5% of employees: Reuters
Fund manager Fidelity International is planning to lay off 20 people at its main China business unit, Reuters reported, citing sources.
This comes amid a downturn in China’s markets as well as a global downsizing by the firm, the report said. Fidelity’s China fund unit currently houses around 120 employees.
Separately, leading solar products manufacturer China Longi will lay off 5% of its staff, due to “market changes and [to] improve organizational efficiency,” Reuters reported.
Longi also refuted a Bloomberg report on Monday that alleged the company plans to cut nearly a third of its staff.
— Lim Hui Jie
China and New Zealand ready to implement upgraded FTA, says Chinese foreign minister
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that China was ready to work with New Zealand to implement the upgraded free trade agreement between the two countries.
Both parties should launch negotiations on the negative list of service trade as soon as possible to push bilateral cooperation to a new level, Wang told his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters, according to Chinese state news agency.
China’s door to the world will open even wider, Wang reportedly said. He also pledged to forge closer cooperation with New Zealand in the decade to come, emphasizing on the need to safeguard free trade.
—Lee Ying Shan
Japan’s finance minister says pay hikes driving positive economic momentum: Reuters
Japan’s finance minister, Shunichi Suzuki, said this year’s wage talks have produced big pay hikes because Japan is experiencing positive signs in the economy, according to a Reuters report.
Last week, initial estimates from Japan’s largest union, Rengo, indicated that major firms had agreed to a pay increase of 5.28% — the highest in 33 years.
The government will deploy various policies so that positive momentum in wage growth will continue, Suzuki told reporters, according to the Reuters…
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