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Yu urges lawmakers to pass financial-reform bills

Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that the government will strive to substantiate banking reform, promote financial liberalization and toughen penalties for those who break financial laws.

"The goal of financial reform must be accomplished," Yu said in an interview. "We cannot afford to fail in this regard if we want to attract foreign investment and make Taiwan an Asia-Pacific financial hub."

Yu said he hopes that the Legislative Yuan can complete legislation as early as possible to allow for the establishment of resolution trust companies (RTC) to accelerate badly needed banking reforms.

Without the RTC legislation, Yu said, the government's "2-5-8" goal of driving the local banks's average non-performing loan (NPL) rate down to below 5 percent in two years while raising their capital availability to above 8 percent cannot be materialized.

"And if our banks continue to be burdened with huge bad loans, we will have a hard time courting foreign investment," Yu said.

During its previous session, Yu said, the legislature only passed an agro-finance bill and a statute governing the creation of a financial supervisory commission, while the RTC-related provisions were left pending.

As part of the financial reform programs, Yu said, the government is also determined to tighten supervision of corporate operations and toughen the punishment for those convicted of financial crimes.

The Cabinet has referred to the Legislative Yuan a package of amendments to nine financial laws to empower judicial authorities to mete out harsher penalties to financial criminals, Yu said, adding that he hopes law enforcement authorities can deal with relevant cases more quickly to stave off financial crimes.

With respect to financial liberalization and globalization, Yu said, the government will continue easing restrictions on banking operations.

"In the past, the government was often reluctant to allow a single bank to offer a new financial product out of considerations of fairness. This attitude has discouraged innovation. In the future, we'll give banks a freer hand in marketing new products to encourage innovation and upgrade the banks' competitiveness in the fiercely competitive global financial market," Yu said.

The government will also encourage local banks to forge strategic ties with their foreign counterparts and to recruit outstanding foreign financial management professionals to instill new concepts into the domestic banking industry and upgrade financial service quality, Yu said.

"We need the support of the Legislative Yuan in implementing these initiatives," Yu said, adding that many regulations must be amended or updated to pave the way for state-owned banks to cultivate cooperative ties or partnerships with foreign financial institutions.
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