Taiwan aims to double in five years the amount of funds raised in the country each year by foreign companies, as part of its plan to become a regional fundraising and asset-management hub, its top financial regulator said.
The nation will revise 143 outdated rules as it helps local financial institutions develop into up to three regional players, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Kong Jaw-sheng (
"Openness, creativity and efficiency are our principles," Kong said after meeting with more than 100 executives, government officials and scholars at a service industry forum.
Contribution
The country plans to double annual fund-raising by foreign companies to NT$35 billion (US$1 billion) in 2008 from NT$17.5 billion at the end of last year, said Wu Tang-chieh (
The combined assets of the nation's financial institutions are forecast to rise more than 30 percent to NT$43.8 trillion by 2008, with overseas investors holding a quarter of the nation's stocks in terms of market value, up from 18.8 percent, Wu said.
The commission's plans to achieve its targets include revising tax rules on financial products, easing restrictions on fund flows to China for local companies with operations there and introducing new investment products, such as interest-rate futures, the commission said in a statement.
The government is considering making it easier for local companies to send money to China to fund their operations there, a Chinese-language business daily reported earlier yesterday.
Under existing rules, any company which wants to send more than NT$500,000 (US$14,750) to China must get approval from the island's Mainland Affairs Council, the paper said.
The inconvenience caused by the restriction means companies have been reluctant to remit profits earned in China back to Taiwan, the paper said.
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