Taiwan Ratings names Chan Tsai-hung as chair

Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) -- the local arm of Standard & Poor's (S&P) -- yesterday reshuffled its top management and named Chan Tsai-hung (詹彩虹), the senior executive vice president of the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TSEC, 證交所), to double as the rating agency's chairperson.

Chairing her first meeting of the company's board of directors yesterday morning, Chan, who replaced outgoing chairman Thomas Wu (吳光雄), also appointed vice president Chris Irwin as acting president until parent company S&P finalizes a replacement for outgoing president and CEO Chen Chung-hsing (陳松興), a company statement said.

"We look forward to appointing a very unique person who can provide leadership and knowledge in local financial and capital markets," S&P's Asia-Pacific managing director Cecile Saavedra said yesterday afternoon, noting that the presidency is "a very important position."

Chan, 52, worked at the Bank of Taiwan (台銀) for over 20 years before taking over the vice presidency at the TSEC last September while retaining a seat on the Taiwan Ratings' board.

The much-speculated shakeup of ownership at Taiwan Ratings, however, did not occur at yesterday's annual shareholders' meeting.

This was because S&P, which owns a 50 percent stake, reached a consensus with local government-related shareholders including the TSEC, Taiwan Securities Central Depository Co (台灣證券集中保管公司) and China Credit Information Service Ltd (中華徵信所) to maintain the status quo.

"The joint venture is working very well ? and S&P will continue to support the growth and career development of local analysts," said Saavedra, refusing to clarify whether S&P has proposed acquiring a majority share in the company.

Analysts yesterday were mixed on Chan's being named to the chairmanship at Taiwan Ratings.

PFP Legislator Norman Yin (殷乃平) yesterday called Chan's professionalism and political connections into question.

He said that selecting Chan, wife of former DPP secretary general Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁), reduced the emphasis on maintaining the company's independence and credibility.

"Chan has been very opinionated and has taken a tough stance in boycotting the company's rating operations since she joined the board," Yin said.

He said that any future intervention from Chan that is backed by the government, could have the effect of hurting Taiwan Ratings' business reputation and scare away S&P, which may cut its shares in the company.

Yin also criticized Chan, although a senior banker, for lacking experience and expertise in the local rating and securities businesses.

Taking a different view, Chu Hau-min (朱浩民), a finance professor at National Chengchi University, yesterday said that it's unlikely that Chan is capable of exerting her political influence with the company's rating operations since Taiwan Ratings has a strong record of credibility.

Chu yesterday placed more importance on the president's seat than the chairman's seat at Taiwan Ratings, saying "the company's president, not it's chairman, is in charge of its daily operations."

"It's more important that who sits at the president's seat since Taiwan Ratings may face fierce competition from two other international raters [Moody's and Fitch Ratings] in the near future," Chu said.