The newly appointed Financial Supervisory Commission chairman, Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉), said yesterday that he would endeavor to rebuild people's trust in the disputed agency and create a stable and competitive environment for the nation's financial industry.
"I feel honored [about the appointment] and the great responsibility ? I will try my best to restore people's confidence in the financial supervisory mechanism," he said.
His tenure will run through June 30, 2008.
The commission has been embroiled in controversy since it was established in July 2004. A series of policy flip-flops eroded confidence in its authority, as did the indictments of some of its high-ranking officials.
"The premier expects the commission to make well-thought-out policies, implement them efficiently and operate cleanly. These are the main guidelines for my duties during my chairmanship," Shih said.
He said that although he was not a financial industry veteran, he was not a layman either, adding that he would draw on his experience to help the financial sector compete fairly and prosper.
Shih will take up his new post next week.
The commission's top job has been vacant since Kong Jaw-sheng (
Kong has filed an appeal to regain his job.
The 51-year-old Shih holds a doctorate in economics from National Taiwan University. He was named to the commission on July 1. Once an Academia Sinica researcher with expertise in financial reform and telecommunications policy, Shih entered public service with a job on the Fair Trade Commission, where he worked from 1998 to 2001.
In his student days he was a pro-democracy activist and also helped organized a major demonstration to oppose the White Terror.
"My background has given me the strength to fight and resist [the kind of] lobbying and pressure [that I'll face] in the future," Shih said.
Some lawmakers expressed surprise over Shih's appointment, saying they had not had advance knowledge of the appointment and were not familiar with him.
"It is difficult to comment on his suitability now because I do not know him," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (
"We will closely supervise him and there will be no honeymoon period for him," Fai said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (
Tsai said he expected the commission to push for some much-needed cross-strait relaxation, starting with less controversial issues, such as an offshore bourse.
A foreign currency-denominated offshore stock exchange has been stuck on the drawing board because of the government's caps on investments in China.
Shih, however, threw cold water on the idea that he would push for more cross-strait opening, saying that cross-strait policy was not in the commission's bailiwick.
"The commission's independence means policy-making independent from politics, not excluding itself from the Cabinet and other [government] agencies," Shih said.
The commission's main task is to hammer out concrete measures to implement the financial reform consensus reached in the recent Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development, he said.
The commission will strengthen its financial supervisory functions by handing out just, timely and proportional punishments, he said.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS