FirstFT: AstraZeneca China president underneath investigation

In at present’s e-newsletter:

• Beijing probes AstraZeneca’s China boss

• BYD’s quarterly gross sales beat Tesla for the primary time

• An interview with Bangladesh’s interim chief

Good morning. AstraZeneca’s China boss, one of many nation’s most high-profile pharmaceutical executives, is underneath investigation by Beijing authorities.

The British drugmaker mentioned yesterday that its China president Leon Wang was “co-operating with an ongoing investigation”. The assertion didn’t make clear the character of the probe.

The pharmaceutical chief has been essential to AstraZeneca’s fortunes in China, the place it generated $5.9bn in revenues final yr, making it the biggest abroad drugmaker by gross sales within the nation.

Yesterday’s assertion comes after police in Shenzhen detained a handful of AstraZeneca workers final month over the attainable infringement of information privateness legal guidelines and importing unlicensed drugs. It’s unclear if Wang’s investigation is expounded to these arrests.

Beijing has intensified an anti-corruption crackdown on pharmaceutical firms over the previous yr, even because the sector has been a vibrant spot within the nation’s bid to draw international capital.

Eleanor Olcott, our expertise correspondent in Beijing, has extra particulars.

Right here’s what else I’m preserving tabs on at present:

• Financial knowledge: Hong Kong and Taiwan report advance third-quarter GDP. China’s official October manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs are due.

• Japan financial coverage: The Financial institution of Japan proclaims its rate of interest determination — traders are betting the central financial institution will maintain charges regular.

• Outcomes: Samsung Electronics, Fujitsu, Panasonic, Apple and Shell report.

• Vacation: Monetary markets are closed in Singapore, Sri Lanka and Malaysia for Deepavali, additionally known as Diwali, the Hindu competition of lights.

5 extra prime tales

1. China’s largest electrical automobile maker BYD has posted increased quarterly revenues than US rival Tesla for the primary time. The Warren Buffett-backed carmaker offered a report 1.1mn automobiles within the three-month interval, however a bruising value warfare within the Chinese language market dragged on its profitability. 

2. The EU is getting ready to launch an investigation into Temu, the Chinese language on-line buying enterprise, amid issues that the ecommerce platform is failing to crack down on gross sales of unlawful merchandise. A latest survey that examined toys offered on Temu and different on-line platforms discovered that 80 per cent of the gadgets had been poisonous or posed well being hazards for youngsters.

• EU-China relations: EU tariffs of as much as 45 per cent on Chinese language electrical autos got here into pressure yesterday, sharply escalating the commerce warfare between the 27-member bloc and Beijing over allegations of unfair industrial subsidies.

3. A Canadian official has accused India’s highly effective house affairs minister Amit Shah of overseeing violence and threats in the direction of Sikh separatist activists within the North American nation. David Morrison, Canada’s deputy international minister, instructed a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that he had confirmed Shah’s id and alleged involvement to The Washington Publish. It’s the most direct declare in opposition to a detailed ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

4. The US financial system grew at an annualised price of two.8 per cent within the third quarter. The information is the most recent signal that American customers stay resilient and comes simply days earlier than they vote to elect the nation’s new president.

5. Australia will make investments as much as A$18bn (US$12bn) in missile manufacturing, together with making superior guided missile programs within the nation for the primary time. The funding is a part of an overhaul of Canberra’s defence technique in response to China’s navy build-up.

Interview: Muhammad Yunus

Chatting with the FT, Bangladesh’s interim chief Muhammad Yunus accused ousted authoritarian chief Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League of exhibiting “all the characteristics of fascism”, saying the celebration has “no place” for now within the nation’s politics. Yunus’s feedback clarify the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate favours taking a tough line on Bangladesh’s oldest and largest political celebration after Sheikh Hasina was toppled by a student-led revolt in August.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• The FT View: Japan’s political limbo comes at a time when its financial, demographic and safety challenges have by no means been higher, the editorial board writes.

• Apple Card: The tech large’s bank card with Goldman Sachs is a cautionary story for these searching for to reinvent retail finance, writes Brooke Masters.

• Large African rats: A furry investigator has boosted the ranks of these sniffing out contraband within the profitable unlawful wildlife commerce.

Chart of the day

Samsung Electronics is struggling to carry on to its crown because the world’s top-selling smartphone maker. The Korean tech large was the one one of many prime 5 world smartphone makers to expertise falling shipments within the third quarter of this yr, dropping market share to longtime US rival Apple and to Chinese language contenders providing slick new foldable gadgets.

Take a break from the information

Age issues in relation to boards, writes Anjli Raval. Simply 5 per cent of administrators inside S&P 500 firms are underneath the age of fifty, however firms shouldn’t be afraid to take an opportunity on youth, argues Raval.