The Ministry of Finance announced yesterday the appointment of Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) as chairwoman of the state-run Taiwan Financial Holding Co (臺灣金控) and Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行).
With a master’s degree in economics, Chang, 60, will replace Tsai Jer-shyong (蔡哲雄) as head of the two 100 percent government-owned financial institutions, starting on Monday, the ministry said.
The government launched Taiwan Financial Holding on Jan. 2 after combining the Bank of Taiwan, the Land Bank of Taiwan (士地銀行), the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China (中國輸出入銀行), the BankTaiwan Life Insurance Co (臺銀人壽保險) and a Bank of Taiwan brokerage unit to create the nation’s largest financial service provider by assets.
Last month, the government said it would maintain the independence of the Export-Import Bank and prevent it joining the holding company. Taiwan Financial is Asia’s 18th largest bank and the 91st biggest in the world, ministry figures showed.
The ministry said yesterday that Peter Lo (羅澤成), the Bank of Taiwan’s incumbent president, would retain his post and double as acting president of Taiwan Financial. Lo, 61, has a master’s degree in economics from Chinese Culture University. His appointment will also take effect on Monday, the ministry said.
Land Bank of Taiwan (士地銀行) chairman Wu Fan-chi (吳繁治) will leave his post as acting president at Taiwan Financial, the ministry said.
The ministry has approved the appointment of a central bank official to head the government-owned Central Deposit Insurance Corp (CDIC, 中央存保).
Fred Chen (陳上程), director general of the central bank’s department of financial inspection, has been appointed CDIC chairman, the ministry 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