Bankers plan China visit

Some 28 high-ranking Taiwanese bankers and academics will visit China next month as the government prepares to allow financial institutions to open representative offices in China, the trip's organizer said yesterday.

The delegation is comprised of Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) chairman Chen Mo-tsai (陳木在), Taiwan Cooperative Bank president Tsai You-tsai (蔡有才), First Commercial Bank (第一商業銀行) chairman Chen An-chyr (陳安治) and Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank (海商業儲蓄銀行) president Chen Yi-ping (陳逸平).

Former finance ministers Paul Chiu (邱正雄), who now chairs Grand Cathay Securities (大華證券), and Lin Chen-kuo (林振國), chairman of the External Trade Development Council (外貿協會), will also join the seven-day trip.

The delegates are to fly to Beijing on Sept. 10 for a seminar at Beijing University.

They will also visit major Chinese banks and securities houses during their stay, said an official at Taiwan's Chinese Financial Association (中華金融學會), which organized the trip.

The delegates will discuss with their Chinese counterparts the stability of China's currency, financial crisis management and the impact of WTO entry on the financial sectors in China and Taiwan, the official said.

The visit comes with the Taiwan government about to allow local banks to open representative offices in China.

The Ministry of Finance has drafted rules governing the operations, pending approval from the Mainland Affairs Council (陸委會) which directs Taiwan's China policy, local media said. The representative offices would only be permitted to gather information and would not be able to offer banking services, Vice Finance Minister Sean Chen (陳沖) said.

Chen told a local daily newspaper that only banks with sound operations would be allowed to open offices in China, which would also start liberalizing its banking sector after its admission into the WTO.

"Taiwan banks cannot wait until the mainland market is fully mature to set up its offices there," Chen said.

According to the Chinese regulations, representative offices of foreign banks have to have operated for at least two years before they can apply to open branch operations there, he said.

Several local insurance firms applied to set up representative offices in China earlier this year after getting the green light from Taipei, but none had yet received approval from China, he added.

The allowance for local banks to set up representative offices in China will enhance the international competitiveness of local financial industries after Taiwan's accession to WTO.

"The total capital investment amount by Taiwanese businessmen in China has reached US$30 billion, and the high foreign exchange charges have gone into the pockets of Chinese-invested or foreign banks," said Luo Huai-jia (羅懷家), vice director of the industry policy center at the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (台灣區電機電子工業同業公會).