Posted on: Friday, September 12, 2003

BUSINESS BRIEFS
PBEC gets new president

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Arthur Kobler, previously president of AT&T's China operations, has taken over as president of the Pacific Basin Economic Council.

He replaces Dalton Tanonaka, who was ousted by the council's board, partly over a disagreement on whether the group's headquarters should remain in Honolulu.

Singapore and Hong Kong are offering subsidies to lure away the five-person PBEC headquarters from Honolulu. PBEC has about 1,000 members, all corporate executives.

Trade deficit, exports rise

Record imports from China pushed America's trade deficit higher in July, but U.S. exports also went up in a bit of good news for manufacturers that analysts said may also signal gains in the slumping economies of U.S. trading partners.

The Commerce Department's latest snapshot yesterday of the country's trade activity showed that the trade gap grew by 0.7 percent in July to $40.3 billion. Imports of goods and services came to $126.5 billion in July, the second-highest level on record.

AIG agrees to $10 million fine

American International Group, one of the biggest U.S. insurance companies, yesterday agreed to pay a $10 million civil fine to settle federal regulators' allegations that it fraudulently helped another company falsify its earnings report and hide losses.

AIG also failed to provide documents that were subpoenaed during the government's investigation of the alleged fraud involving financial reports by cellular phone distributor Brightpoint Inc., the Securities and Exchange Commission said.