The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said yesterday that it is "necessary and urgent" to expand the Resolution Trust Company's fund to NT$1.05 trillion (US$30 billion).
The fund was established in 2001 with the approval of the legislature. The Cabinet originally planned to raise only NT$140 billion by levying a 2 percent tax on business revenues for financial institutions during the four-year period from 2002 through 2005.
But with little more than NT$40 billion left after the ministry delivered a series of rescue packages to ailing financial institutions, the fund has proved insufficient to carry on its tasks, MOF officials said.
They pointed out that the purpose of setting up the fund was to prop up poorly managed financial institutions, allowing them to withdraw from the financial market while protecting the interests of depositors and thereby maintain stability in the financial market.
But they noted that with the economic slump and the sluggish real estate market that has left financial institutions with high overdue loan rates because they have difficulty disposing of the real estate used by customers as collateral.
They said that in order to stimulate the healthy development of the economy, it is necessary to use public funds to write off these non-performing loans and help revitalize the economy.
The officials urged the legislature to pass the draft bill of a revision of the fund establishment and management regulations so that the financial goals -- cutting the non-performing loan ratios of financial institutions to 5 percent and raising their capital adequacy ratio to 8 percent -- can be attained within two years.
As of September, Taiwan had NT$1.43 trillion in non-performing loans and an NPL ratio of 10.17 percent according to government statistics.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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