The government's representatives in state-controlled financial institutions will be banned from taking up executive positions after the banks are merged or acquired by private financial institutions, as the legislature passed a measure yesterday designed to prevent conflicts of interest.
"The restriction is to prevent the government's representatives in the state banks from colluding with their private counterparts for the exchange of personal interest in merger talks, which would ultimately lead to national assets being sold cheaply," said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), who proposed the regulation in the Finance Committee at the legislature yesterday.
Since the government is getting rid of its stakes in a bid to halve the number of state-controlled banks to six by the year's end, the restriction is necessary to protect the nation's assets, Tsai said.
Therefore, officials representing the government at the banks will be prohibited from taking up positions that enjoy decision-making powers, such as chief executive officer or president or board director, in the surviving banks within three years of a mergers to prevent a conflict of interest.
More than 100 government representatives in the nation's financial institutions will be affected by the new restrictions, the Ministry of Finance said.
Currently, public servants are not allowed to serve in private companies whose operations are directly related to an industry they worked in within five years before they quit. They are also restricted from taking on an executive position, such as board director, superintendent or manager within three years of their resignation, according to the regulations of the Civil Servant Services Act (
The stipulations, however, do not apply to government representatives in financial institutions.
The restrictions were inspired by the merger between TaipeiBank (台北銀行) and Fubon Commercial Bank (富邦銀行), Fubon Financial Holding Co's (富邦金控) banking arm, in 2003. Former TaipeiBank president Jesse Ding (丁予康), who was in charge of merger talks with Fubon at that time, became a board director representing Fubon, sparking speculation of collusion.
The Financial Supervisory Commission and the Ministry of Finance, which oversee the government's stakes in financial institutions said they have no particular viewpoint on the restriction.
Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure