Although Minister of Finance Lee Yuan-san (
"Without a healthy banking sector in place, Taiwan's economy will not be revived," said TSU Legislator Eric Wu (
Comparing the ongoing financial reforms to the human cardiovascular system, Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河), president of Win-Win Weekly (今周刊), said that Lee's successor should follow through the reforms "without any bargaining, otherwise, Taiwan will be like an ailing patient with clogged veins."
Ever since Lee's resignation last week, local markets has speculated that the DPP administration's financial reforms would slow.
But the outgoing minister yesterday defended his policies, saying a misunderstanding triggered a rift between regulators and the private sector.
"I have no regrets and have done all that needs to be done," Lee told reporters while returning to his office to pack yesterday morning on the first day of an unscheduled one-week leave.
Lee, however, offered no opinion on the premier's possible choice for his replacement.
The new minister should be equipped with not only financial expertise, but also seasoned political skills to be capable of handling pressure and opposition, Hsieh said.
Local Chinese-language media is speculating that Lin Tzong-yeong (
The three, however, denied the speculation yesterday.
While praising Lee's contribution to financial reforms, Hsieh added that both former vice finance ministers Lin and Chen are suitable choices given their experience in financial and political affairs.
Also stressing the importance of reforms, William Bryson, chairman of the capital markets committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, said yesterday that, a banker should take up the position of finance chief, since a major focus will be on cleaning up the banking sector's huge non-performing loan (NPL) mess.
While Taiwan is currently a hot NPL market in Asia, Bryson said that China's NPL market -- estimated at over US$480 billion -- is also a potential target for investors.
Taiwan's total NPL market is valued at NT$1.43 trillion (US$42 billion) -- 10 times smaller than that of China's.
"Because if the China market ever opens up, that will be a distraction to investors who are bidding on auctions here in Taiwan. China may draw the same group of investors over," said Bryson, who is also a legal consultant at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue (眾達法律事務所).
In addition to financial and political clout, Huang Da-yeh (
If the Financial Supervisory Board can be set up soon, the task of financial reforms should be left to the board's chairman while the finance minister should only be charged with governmental budgeting and financing tasks, he said.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Global semiconductor stocks advanced yesterday, as comments by Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) at Davos, Switzerland, helped reinforce investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI). Samsung Electronics Co gained as much as 5 percent to an all-time high, helping drive South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI above 5,000 for the first time. That came after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose more than 3 percent to a fresh record on Wednesday, with a boost from Nvidia. The gains came amid broad risk-on trade after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of tariffs on some European nations over backing for Greenland. Huang further
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) shares yesterday notched their best two-day rally on record, as investors flock to the Taiwanese chip designer on excitement over its tie-up with Google. The Taipei-listed stock jumped 8.59 percent, capping a two-session surge of 19 percent and closing at a fresh all-time high of NT$1,770. That extended a two-month rally on growing awareness of MediaTek’s work on Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs), which are chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. It also highlights how fund managers faced with single-stock limits on their holding of market titan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are diversifying into other AI-related firms.
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