Despite the upcoming shake-up of ownership later this month, Chen Chung-hsing (
"After more than six years in office, there's no likelihood that I'll stay," Chen said yesterday, "I believe I have helped lay down a solid foundation for Taiwan Ratings to face new commercial competition."
Established in May 1997, the agency is Taiwan's first credit rating services organization that claims to have over 160 corporate clients, including banks, bills finance companies, securities firms, insurance companies and corporations.
The local media have widely speculated that Chen's resignation has something to do with pressures from the government, which some market watchers believe is displeased with Chen's outspokenness and may attempt to manipulate the company's management by seeking a replacement for him.
Chen denied the speculation, saying that he had long proposed to leave the position late last year before his (second) term ended in February. He said he was granted an oral permission from board members at that time to step down.
But repercussions from his resignation involve negotiations on future ownership of the agency between the government and S&P, which owns 50 percent stake in Taiwan Ratings.
S&P has proposed acquiring the remaining 50 percent stake owned by government-controlled agencies -- including the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TSEC,
Cecile Saavedra, S&P's Asia-Pacific managing director, is due to arrive in Taipei on June 25 to begin acquisition negotiations with Ministry of Finance officials.
However, it appears that the ministry has no plan to resell part of its shares to the private sector, putting a deadlock to the S&P's buyout plan.
It is, therefore, speculated that the DPP government may soon appoint a new candidate to take over Chen's presidency while S&P will also nominate a new chairman to the board, as agreed by both parties.
While declining to elaborate on who's going to take over his position, Chen urged his future successor to speak his or her mind when it comes to professional judgement since it's the company's obligations to warn of any market risks to both clients and investors.
Local media, however, have speculated that TSEC's senior executive vice president Chan Tsai-hung (
Chan is the wife of former DPP secretary-general Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) who is currently the chair of the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖).
But a Taiwan Ratings official yesterday called Chan's expertise into question. The official, who requested anonymity, said that Chan -- a senior banker -- has no experience in the rating business and may not live up to the post's professional requirements.
"The morale among employees sank once we heard that she may come to head the company," the official said, adding that possible candidates including Chan may have a hard time working in the capacity of company chief if their political connections are too complicated.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure