In response, Hsieh said the commission's function in financial supervision should be independent, but when it comes to financial regulations, the commission should negotiate with other related departments.
The idea of setting up the commission dates back to the KMT administration when Paul Chiu (邱正雄) served as Minister of Finance in 1999. At the time the ministry submitted a draft organizational bill regarding the planned agency to the legislature, but it was shelved until Shea Jia-dong (許嘉棟) took the ministry's helm in 2000 when the Democratic Progressive Party beat the KMT in the presidential election.
While the commission's organizational bill was still left untouched in the legislature during the next four years, the idea of forming a government agency combining the administrative and supervisory roles of the banking, securities and insurance industries remained.
However, the commission is now facing uncertainty as the Cabinet is mulling whether the commission's policy-making and supervisory roles should be split up. It may return the administrative role to the Ministry of Finance.
If the commission is only responsible for financial supervision, it could retain its independence without needing to face questions and intervention from the legislature, Lai said.
However, he added that the finance ministry, which controls many state-run financial institutions, should get rid of all state-owned shares before taking over the financial policy-making power, in order to avoid a conflict of interest.
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