01/07/2025

BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | JULY 1, 2025

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Nissan seeks to delay supplier payments

China to resume some Japanese seafood imports BEIJING: China has lifted a ban on seafood imports from most regions of Japan, partially mending a years-long dispute over Tokyo’s handling of nuclear wastewater. Japan began gradually releasing treated wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in 2023. The move was backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the plant operator Tepco says all radioactive elements have been filtered out except for tritium, levels of which are within safe limits. But it drew sharp criticism from Beijing, which banned imports of Japanese seafood as a result. Samples from long-term monitoring of nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima had“not shown abnormalities”, China’s General Administration of Customs said in a statement on Sunday. As a result, China “decided to conditionally resume” seafood imports from Japan, with the exception of imports from 10 of the country’s 47 prefectures, including Fukushima and Tokyo, which remain banned. The Japanese government received the decision “positively”, deputy chief cabinet secretary Kazuhiko Aoki said. “(But Japan) will strongly demand the Chinese side lift remaining import regulations on seafood from 10 prefectures.” Japanese Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi also called China’s move “a major milestone”. – AFP Indonesia to ease import curbs on selected goods JAKARTA: Indonesia will ease import restrictions and rules on many goods and raw materials in a bid to make it easier to do business in the country, ministers said yesterday, ahead of the July 9 deadline for tariff negotiations set by the US. While Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, traders have historically complained about excessive red tape. The matter was also highlighted in a recent report by the US Trade Representative on foreign trade barriers. Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, speaking at an event, said the policy actions would affect 10 groups of commodities. Trade Minister Budi Santoso said restrictions would be eased on a number of products including those in the categories of fertilisers, forestry and plastics. He said the new policy would create more certainty for businesses. – Reuters

TOKYO: Nissan Motor has asked some suppliers to allow it to delay payments to free up short-term funds, according to several e-mails and a company document reviewed by Reuters, as the troubled Japanese automaker scrambles to boost cash. New CEO Ivan Espinosa, who took over in April, has unveiled plans to shed around 15% of Nissan’s global workforce and close seven plants as he targets ¥500 billion (RM14.3 billion) in cost cuts over the next two years. Battered by slumping sales and weighed down by an ageing vehicle lineup, the car maker reported a US$4.5 billion net annual loss in the financial year that ended in March and has declined to give a forecast this year. Now, Nissan has asked some suppliers in Britain and the European Union to accept delays in payment, according to the correspondence o E-mails show automaker’s efforts to conserve cash

dramatically in 2022, forcing it to file for bankruptcy protection in the United States. The collapse of the firm’s TerraUSD and Luna wiped out around US$40 billion in investments and caused wider losses in the global crypto market estimated at more than US$400 billion. South Korean Do Kwon, who co-founded Terraform in 2018, was arrested in 2023 in Montenegro and later extradited to the United States on fraud charges related to the crash. He had been on the run after fleeing Singapore and South Korea. – AFP turnaround actions and redeem bond maturities,” it said. It expects to record negative free cash flow of ¥550 billion for its automotive business this quarter, worse than the ¥303 billion in the same period last year. Following typical seasonal patterns, the first quarter is expected to be Nissan’s most challenging, chief financial officer Jeremie Papin said in May. It is targeting positive free cash flow by its 2026 financial year. Reuters was not able to determine whether Nissan made similar requests to suppliers in other regions, how many suppliers it contacted, or the term of extensions sought. In Japan, it has already faced scrutiny over supplier payments, after regulators found it had unlawfully underpaid dozens of them. In other internal e-mails, a director in the treasury department appeared to refer to a target of freeing up €150 million (RM737 million), stating in an e-mail last month the need to deliver on a “purchasing task of 150M EUR”. Delaying supplier payments until July – the start of Nissan’s second quarter – was an option to help achieve the “purchasing task” of €150 million, the director wrote in another e-mail. The e-mails showed Nissan discussed giving suppliers two options: one was to accept delayed payment in consideration for a higher payment. The other was to be paid on time as usual, in which case HSBC would make the payment and Nissan would later repay the bank with interest. Nissan estimated it could boost free cash flow by up to €59 million by extending payment terms with more than a dozen companies in Britain and the EU, including UK-based units of temp-staffing firm ManpowerGroup and shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, a company document from October 2024 showed. Nissan had ¥2.2 trillion in cash and cash equivalents on hand at the end of March. It faces some ¥700 billion in debt coming due this financial year. Its debt has been cut to “junk” by all three major ratings agencies. – Reuters

were “again” being asked for an extension of payment terms. It was in line with the aim to bolster free cash flow “requested from CEO top down”, the employee told colleagues. Nissan told Reuters its CEO did not mandate functional tasks in regions. June payments would be delayed to Aug 15, the employee wrote, later adding some would be pushed to September. Suppliers would not be forced to accept delayed payment, the employee wrote. The requests went out earlier this month, according to the person with knowledge of the matter. “It shows the difficult situation Nissan is facing in terms of financing,” said Seiji Sugiura, senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory. “It appears they want to postpone their current expenses as much as possible.” Nissan said in its statement that it was taking immediate actions to recover its performance and rebuild to a leaner, more resilient structure. “While we are taking these actions we aim for sufficient liquidity to weather the costs of the

reviewed by Reuters and a person with knowledge of the matter. The move would allow it to have more cash on hand at the close of the April-June first quarter and follows similar requests before the end of the last financial year in March, the emails showed. It is not uncommon for firms to request payment extensions from suppliers to help free up cash. In a statement to Reuters, Nissan said it had incentivised some of its suppliers to collaborate under more flexible payment terms, at no cost to them, to support its free cash flow. “They could choose to be paid immediately or opt for a later payment with interest,” Nissan said. The correspondence, which has not been previously reported, gives a detailed look at Nissan’s effort to conserve cash in the short term, even if that means paying suppliers more down the line. The e-mails were exchanged among Nissan employees in Britain and the EU, including staff in its purchasing and treasury departments, according to their profiles on LinkedIn. One employee told co-workers in e-mails this month that suppliers

A man standing in front of the global headquarters of Nissan Motor in Yokohama. – REUTERSPIC

Tougher Singapore crypto regulations kick in SINGAPORE: The city-state ramped up crypto exchange regulations yesterday in a bid to curb money laundering and boost market confidence after a series of high-profile scandals rattled the sector. Singapore, a major Asian financial hub, has taken a hit to its reputation after several high-profile recent cases dented trust in the emerging crypto sector. Analysts welcomed the move to tighten controls on crypto exchanges. “With the new DTSP regime, MAS is reinforcing that financial integrity is a red line,” Chengyi Ong, head of Asia Pacific policy at crypto data group Chainalysis, told AFP.

France-based global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. Three Arrows Capital filed for bankruptcy in 2022 when its fortunes suffered a sharp decline after a massive sell-off of assets it had bet on as prices nosedived in crypto markets. Its Singaporean co-founder Su Zhu was arrested at Changi Airport while trying to leave the country and jailed for four months. A court in the British Virgin Islands later ordered a US$1.14 billion worldwide asset freeze on the company’s founders. Singapore-based Terraform Labs also saw its cryptocurrencies crash

These included the collapse of cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and Terraform Labs, which both filed for bankruptcy in 2022. “The money laundering risks are higher in such business models and if their substantive regulated activity is outside of Singapore, the MAS is unable to effectively supervise such persons”, the central bank said, referring to firms serving solely foreign clients.

Singapore’s central bank last month said digital token service providers (DTSPs) that served only overseas clients must have a licence to continue operations past June 30 – or close shop. The Monetary Authority of Singapore in a subsequent statement added that it has “set the bar high for licensing and will generally not issue a licence” for such operations.

“The goal is to insulate Singapore from the reputational risk that a crypto business based in Singapore, operating without sufficient oversight, is knowingly or unknowingly involved in illicit activity.” Law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher said in a comment on its website that the move will “allow Singapore to be fully compliant” with the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force, the