Taiwan Financial Holdings Co (台灣金控), the nation's largest financial group, must cut its stake in Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控) to below 25 percent within three years and consider selling the rest, the industry regulator said.
"We also ask Taiwan Financial to evaluate selling the remaining stake in Hua Nan, though no timetable is given for this part," Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) said in a phone interview yesterday.
Except for the purpose of mergers, a financial holding company can't invest in other financial holding companies, Chang said.
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), which owns 7.9 percent of Hua Nan, may buy the stake, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday, without citing anyone.
"We'll do an evaluation on this if the government really wants to sell the stake," Shin Kong executive vice president Victor Hsu (許澎) said in a phone interview yesterday.
He said Shin Kong has some holdings in Hua Nan, although he could not immediately confirm the exact stake.
Taiwan Financial Holdings officially began operating yesterday and has under its umbrella the state-run Land Bank of Taiwan (
It will have assets of NT$5.12 trillion (US$157 billion), becoming Taiwan's largest financial group by assets.
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