05/06/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | JUNE 5, 2025 Hyundai exits Ola Electric, Kia cuts stake

17

Regulator alleges Westpac unit used false documents

MUMBAI: Hyundai Motor sold its entire stake in Ola Electric, while rival South Korean carmaker Kia trimmed its holding, in a combined share sale worth 6.89 billion rupees (RM340 million), according to exchange data. Hyundai, which held a 2.47% stake in the company, sold shares at a price of 50.70 rupees, while Kia offloaded 0.6% of Ola Electric shares for 50.55 rupees, the data showed on Tuesday. Kia held a less than 1% stake in Ola Electric. Its current holding is not known as exchange data does not disclose stakes below 1%. Ola Electric’s shares slumped 8% on Tuesday as both disposals were at a 6% discount to its Monday closing price. Hyundai and Kia had invested in the Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola in 2019 to collaborate on developing electric vehicles and their charging infrastructure. The disposals come at a time when the firm is grappling with slowing sales, regulatory pressure and fierce competition. – Reuters

home loans in 2024, while continuing to retain the ongoing loans. The closure prompted RAMS franchisees to file a class action lawsuit against Westpac, claiming it improperly terminated viable businesses and was ultimately responsible for the loan processing errors. A franchisee spokesperson said the franchisees were not consulted during the ASIC investigation and “the regulator’s findings about RAMS’ ‘systemic organisational governance failure’ and inadequate supervision reflect Westpac attempting to shift institutional failures onto franchisees”. The date of the first hearing in ASIC vs Westpac is yet to be scheduled. – Reuters

with unlicensed mortgage operators, failing to properly supervise its representatives, and other shortcomings, ASIC added. Westpac said in a statement that RAMS had agreed to finalise the matter in court and “will continue to work cooperatively with ASIC to resolve the proceedings as quickly as possible”. A 2019 Royal Commission aired widespread allegations of financial firms failing to take adequate due diligence before approving loans, resulting in tougher regulation. ASIC said it was seeking unspecified financial penalties from RAMS. Westpac said it expects its existing provisions to be enough to cover the cost of the lawsuit. Westpac shut down RAMS to new

The the allegations in a statement of facts agreed by Westpac, filed in a federal civil lawsuit, and published yesterday. The agreed statement said that in some cases it was unclear where the false documents originated but in others “RAMS franchisees or their employees ... knowingly submitted loan applications supported by false documentation or information or were complicit in doing so”. The actions created “the opportunity for loans to be provided to customers who otherwise may not have qualified for those loans, and thereby increasing commissions earned by RAMS franchisees”, ASIC deputy chairman Sarah Court said in a statement. RAMS has admitted to dealing regulator made

SYDNEY: Australia’s corporate regulator said the mortgage broking unit of No. 2 lender Westpac had used falsified payslips from non-existent employers to approve home loans in a lawsuit filed yesterday. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said RAMS Financial Group, a Westpac subsidiary until the bank shuttered the business last year, engaged in widespread unlicensed conduct from June 2019 to April 2023. o Australian lender expects provisions to cover lawsuit costs

Virgin Australia seeks stock market return: Local media SYDNEY: Virgin Australia will re-list on the local stock market in a public offering aiming to raise more than US$400 million (RM1.7 billion) for the once-troubled airline, local media reported yesterday.

One of the few local rivals to Australia’s Qantas Airways, Virgin was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic brought international travel to a standstill. US private equity giant Bain Capital came to the airline’s rescue after the Australian government refused to bail Virgin out. Bain is now looking to sell a 30% stake in Virgin through an initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange, local media reported. The company was looking to raise some A$685 million (RM1.8 billion) when it lists later in June, according to a string of reports in Australian media. Virgin Australia last traded on the exchange in 2020 before it delisted at the height of its financial woes. Qatar Airways earlier this year bought a 25% stake in Virgin Australia, injecting foreign competition into a market dominated by Qantas. Qantas Airways – along with its low-cost brand Jetstar – has a more than 61% share of the Australian market. Virgin Australia said it would not be commenting on the reports. – AFP

A Virgin Australia Airlines plane taking off from Kingsford Smith International Airport in Sydney. – REUTERSPIC

Top scientist wants to prevent AI from going rogue NEW YORK: Concerned about the rapid spread of generative AI, a pioneer researcher is developing software to keep tabs on a technology that is increasingly taking over human tasks. Canadian computer science The winner of the Turing Award, also known as the Nobel Prize for computer science, has been warning for several years of the risks of AI, whether through its malicious use or the software itself going awry. practically any job a human can, at a fraction of the cost. “Currently, AI is developed to maximise profit,”Bengio said, adding it was being deployed even as it persists to show flaws.

OpenAI, Google and Anthropic are deployed across all sectors of the digital economy, while still showing significant problems. These include AI models that show a capability to deceive and fabricate false information even as they increase productivity. In a recent example, AI company Anthropic said that during safety testing, its latest AI model tried to blackmail an engineer to avoid being replaced by another system. – AFP

greatly harm humanity,” he said. One of the first objectives at LawZero will be to develop Scientist AI, a form of specially trained AI that can be used as a guardrail to ensure other AIs are behaving properly. The organisation already has over 15 researchers and has received funding from Schmidt Sciences, a charity set up by former Google boss Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy. The project comes as powerful large language models (or LLMs) from

Moreover, for Bengio, giving AI human-like agency will easily be used for malicious purposes such as disinformation, bio-weapons and cyberattacks. “If we lose control of rogue super-intelligent AIs, they could

Those risks are increasing with the development of so-called AI agents, a use of the technology that tasks computers with making decisions that were once made by human workers. The goal of these agents is to build virtual employees that can do

professor Yoshua Bengio is considered one of the godfathers of the artificial intelligence revolution and on Tuesday announced the launch of LawZero, a non-profit organisation intended to mitigate the technology’s inherent risks.