Several bankers yesterday lauded President Chen Shui-bian's (
At a recent meeting with his top economics advisors, Chen said he hopes to reduce the number of state-run banks to six by the end of next year, while increasing the market share of three domestic banks to above 10 percent.
He also proposed halving the number of financial holding companies in 2006 while encouraging at least one domestic bank to list shares in an overseas stock market or to turn its management over to a foreign owner.
"Those will be very important milestones to achieve, but it's a question of how," Citigroup Global Markets Taiwan Ltd chairman Tu Ying-tzyong (
Tu said that the government should use market capitalization, instead of market share, to gauge the health of domestic banks. Market cap, which is derived by multiplying a com-pany's share price by its number of shares outstanding, is a quick way of putting a price tag on a company.
"The local financial market will still be overcrowded with seven financial holding companies if they are not turning a profit," Tu said.
The best approach would be to nurture at least two to three domestic financial-service companies to become regional players in the Asia-Pacific markets with a market cap of over US$20 billion, he said.
Despite the difficulties involved, four to five leading, innovative domestic banks should also be developed, while the nation's remaining financial institutions should be encouraged to transform themselves into niche banks, Tu said.
First Financial Holding Co (
However, Huang said that the government should encourage mer-gers to create synergy, rather than just halving the number of banks as a means of addressing the nation's over-banking plight.
He also expressed concern over the foreign-ownership proposal, citing a bad experience when First Financial was accused of inappropriately profiting foreign investors in its issuance of global depository receipts (GDRs) to attract foreign investors earlier this year.
"There should be concrete supporting measures to implement the government's consolidation goals," Huang said.
Peng suggested that the government come up with "carrot-and-stick" measures, such as tax breaks and branch licenses, to motivate the private sector to meet the government's goals.
The government will face great challenges in merging state-run banks, as it will be very painful for them to rationalize costs by laying off employees and shutting down redundant branches, he said.
Joseph Lyu (
Market forces will naturally edge non-performing banks out of the marketplace, allowing leading banks to compete with their regional competitors, Lyu said.
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
RSS