Securities bill passes reading
The Finance Committee at the Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the first reading of the amendments to the Securities and Exchange Law (證券交易法), stipulating that listed companies shall have at least either two seats or no less than one-fifth of total seats of independent board directors in an attempt to strengthen corporate governance.
To safeguard independence, independent board directors and their relatives are banned from serving as board directors, superintendents and major shareholders of the same firms publicly traded in the local bourse, the Financial Supervisory Commission said.
The regulation is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2007 and will be applied to priority listed companies, including financial holding firms, financial institutions of capitalization exceeding NT$10 billion and manufacturing companies having capitalization of over NT$5 billion, the commission said.
The approved amendments also obligate the public certified accountants to bear compensation liability to investors along with companies for their endorsement of the falsified financial books, unless they can prove they have no knowledge of the fraud and well fulfill their verification duties.
CAL chair to head China Steel
Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday made the announcement that China Airlines (華航) chairman Chiang Yao-chung (江耀宗) will take over the chairmanship of the China Steel Corp (中鋼) after former chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵) stepped down from the post.
Before serving as the China Airlines chairman, Chiang served as the bureau chief of the Department of Rapid Transit Systems for the Taipei City Government.
Lin then resigned from the chairmanship of China Steel after being grilled by lawmakers for his annual stock bonus from the company, which was estimated to be NT$44 million (US$1.31 million).
Lin was demanded to give up the bonus and return it to the national treasury.
Lin donated his bonus to the charity and left the office on Oct. 15.
Uni-President forges venture
Uni-President Group (統一集團), Taiwan's leading food company, has forged a 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million) joint venture with a Shanghai firm to commodity trade in China, a group official said yesterday.
Nanlien International Corp (南聯國貿), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uni-President Group, holds a 50 percent stake in the joint venture, Shanghai E and P Trading Co, which started operations last month, the official said.
Shanghai Sugar Cigarette and Wine (Group) Co (上海煙糖集團) took the other half, he said.
"Shanghai YanTang shares 15 percent of the mainland sugar market," he said.
The parters were also to cooperate in commodity trading and logistics distribution in China, he added.
The joint venture would also eye markets in the 10-nation block of countries in ASEAN in the future, he added.
Sales for the new firm were expected to reach 400 million yuan in the first year and rise to one billion yuan annually in three years, the official said.
NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar declined against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, losing NT$0.033 to close at NT$33.690.
A total of US$612 million changed hands during the day's trading.
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