■ Listing changes on hold
Kong Jaw-sheng (龔照勝), chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, said the government may delay moves to allow China-based Taiwanese businesses to list their mainland units here because of political concerns.
While the government is drafting measures that would reduce the restrictive measures and help facilitate the sales of such shares, Kong said the matter is not a priority for his commission for the time being.
"We will deal with the issue next year," Kong told the Taipei Times yesterday in an interview.
He said the commission's priority is to develop the local market, and added that supporting measures and mechanisms should also exist before allowing share sales.
Meanwhile, the government may soon phase out a rule that doesn't allow locally traded stocks to rise or fall more than 7 percent a day, Kong said yesterday.
``We will do this step by step, but we can reasonably expect the first step to happen very soon,'' Kong said without elaboration.
■ Citibank offers cash card
Citibank Taiwan launched its first cash card yesterday, saying that their cardholders deserve to select their payment manner and pricing options.
Consumers can gauge their finances and the amount of cash needed to choose between the revolving and installment programs, Victor Kuan (管國霖), the bank's consumer banking head, said at a press conference.
Kuan said that three-tier pricing packages for revolving credit lines are offered, with the lowest annual interest rate set at 12.88 percent.
Customers choosing the two lower interest rates will have to pay monthly management fees but will not pay interest in the first three months.
The card can also be used as a credit card, Kuan said.
■ Plastics firm invests in China
Formosa Plastics Group (台塑) plans to invest NT$3 billion (US$89 million) in China to build five piers in Ningbo, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing an unidentified official at the group.
Two of the piers will handle mainly chemical ships and the remaining three will be for bulk carriers, the newspaper said. The group has approval from the Chinese government and will start construction soon, the report said.
In addition to the five piers, Formosa Plastics Group is already building its first pier in Ningbo, with construction to be completed next month, the report said.
The group is building a number of chemical and plastic material plants in Ningbo. It has more than 15 bulk carriers that will help ship products from Ningbo to other ports, the paper said.
■ UMC managers unload shares
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) managers such as vice chairman Peter Chang (張崇德) and Chris Chi (季克非) have told the Taiwan Stock Exchange they are selling some shares in the company or placing them in trust accounts.
The plans to sell or entrust some shares are aimed at avoiding a six-month lockup period that will start in November, when stock options the companies subscribed in 2002 mature.
■ NT dollar up slightly
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, advancing NT$0.001 to close at NT$33.876 against the greenback on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$368 million.
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