Taiwan plans to make it easier for investors to acquire local banks, seeking to encourage consolidation in an economy where hundreds of lenders serve 23 million people.
The Financial Supervisory Commission has proposed allowing both foreign and local investors to fully own domestic banks, Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) said in an interview. Currently, only the government and financial holding companies may hold more than 25 percent of a bank.
Citigroup Inc, Standard Chartered Plc and ABN Amro Holding NV have taken over Taiwanese banks in the past year after competition, mismanagement and rising credit card defaults eroded profits among local firms. Taiwan has more than 40 local and 30 foreign banks, along with hundreds of grassroots lenders.
"This is quite a breakthrough which should accelerate consolidation," said Parker Wu, who helps manage the equivalent of US$150 million at Agricultural Bank of Taiwan (台灣農業金庫). "This will allow foreign investors to take majority stakes and do what they can on reforming Taiwanese banks."
An index of Taiwanese financial and insurance stocks has climbed 14 percent over the past two years, trailing the 40 percent increase in the benchmark TAIEX. The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Financials Index has risen 42 percent in the period.
The proposed draft needs approval by the Cabinet and the legislature, Chang said. Investors will be asked to seek permission from the regulator whenever their proposed ownership in a bank would exceed 10 percent, 25 percent or 50 percent, she said.
Under existing rules, investors that are not classified as financial holding companies can take control of distressed local banks, Chang said.
Revising the bank ownership law would "bring it into line with international standards," Chang said. "Such practice is expected to help facilitate the financial consolidation."
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six