New FSC chief vows tougher financial action

Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正), formerly the nation's chief economic policy planner, officially took over the chairmanship of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday, vowing to strengthen financial supervision and restore investor confidence in the market watchdog.

"We will take immediate actions to beef up supervision of conglomerates," Hu told a press conference yesterday, referring to the financial fallout from the Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團) scandal.

The commission will strengthen liaison with parallel government agencies, including the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the over-the-counter bourses, to ensure timely disclosure of information to investors and initiate legal and regulatory changes, such as stricter policies governing certified public accountants' endorsement of listed companies' financial statements, Hu said.

Hu, 67, previously chaired the Council of Economic Planning and Development. He is the fourth chairman of the FSC, which was set up in July 2004, replacing Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) who took up the position only five months ago.

Shih offered to step down earlier this month to assume responsibility for the Rebar Group scandal. The scandal involved a number of group members, including The Chinese Bank (中華銀行), which was later taken over by the government, dealing a blow to confidence in the nation's capital market.

Hu vowed to implement reforms to resolve problems engendered by the Rebar Group and maintain financial stability.

He said the financial watchdog would carefully work out the problems of the four other troubled financial institutions and adopt a pro-active approach in dealing with troubled banks in the future. Providing an exit mechanism through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or having the government take over when a bank's capital adequacy ratio drops as low as 2 percent could be an option, he said.

The economics expert, known for his zealous support of the government's stalled second-stage financial reforms, yesterday voiced his support for consolidation of the banking sector -- in the form of non-hostile takeovers.

"We encourage mergers and acquisitions, but not hostile takeovers," Hu said.

The regulator will closely screen and condemn any unlawful activities, such as insider trading, during non-hostile M&As, he said.

Whether or not a bid is hostile would be one of the commission's major considerations in reviewing M&A applications, Hu said.

On cross-strait financial relaxation, the FSC chairman said he would favor allowing banks to expand into China only if the two sides reach an agreement on cross-strait financial supervision.

"We are willing to negotiate with [China] on the issue on an equal and reciprocal basis," he said, adding that the commission would work closely with the Mainland Affairs Council to facilitate financial expansion.