The Ministry of Finance yesterday flexed its muscles to successfully secure a majority of seats in reshuffled boards of the nation's major state-controlled banks, as well as the Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控).
After grabbing eights seats in Mega Financial's 15-member board, the ministry's hand-picked chairman, Cheng Shen-chih (
Mega is the nation's third-largest financial services company by market value.
Before yesterday's shareholder reshuffle, many individual shareholders questioned Cheng's managerial ability and his close relationship with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), which they argued may pose a conflict of interest as he may use the bank's resources to stump for Chen.
But Cheng yesterday assured the company's shareholders of his professionalism.
"If I don't perform well and professionally, I'll step down myself -- whether the government supports me or not," Cheng told the shareholders' meeting yesterday morning.
The ministry yesterday also secured six seats on Chang Hwa Bank's (
Chang Hwa chairman Chang Po-shin (張伯欣), a candidate supported by the MOF, also won his reelection bid with support from private shareholders at yesterday's shareholders meeting.
Investor approval
"[Not only the government, but also] private shareholders gave their approval to Chang's performance as the bank's chairman for another three years," said Hsieh Chao-nan (
Under Chang's leadership, Chang Hwa aggressively cleaned up its bad loans last year, a move that pushed the bank into the red.
Over at the Taiwan Business Bank (
The ministry grabbed four seats, while the First Commercial and Chang Hwa Bank each secured two seats and Hua Nan Commercial Bank (
China Bills Finance Corp (中華票券) yesterday reshuffled its nine-member board and the ministry grabbed seven seats while securing two seats in its three-member supervisory board.
China Bills' incumbent chairman, Tseng Chien-cheng (
Under Tseng's two-year leadership, China Bills' pre-tax earning per share reached NT$1.91 last year, Tu said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six