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State-run funds help prop up market

Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) said yesterday that four state-run funds had entered the stock market to help stabilize sagging share prices and urged the public not to panic in the wake of the financial turmoil after Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Monday.

Chiu was referring to the Civil Servant Pension Fund (退撫基金), the Labor Pension Fund (勞退基金), the Labor Insurance Fund (勞保基金) — with of assets of between NT$200 billion (US$6.2 billion) and NT$300 billion each — and the NT$3 trillion Postal Savings Fund (郵政儲金).

“Everyone should calm down. As long as we don’t get flustered and keep the country’s economy on track, we will overcome the impact of the global financial turbulence,” Chiu told a press conference after calling an emergency meeting in response to the US financial woes.

The meeting, attended by Central Bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南), Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) and Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Vice Chairwoman Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠), was convened at 8am yesterday.

Chiu assured the public that the domestic economy and financial market were sound — unlike in the US, which former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said was likely facing its worst crisis in more than 50 years.

“In the case of our country, it’s known worldwide that our businesses have very low liability-asset ratios and the structure of our financial institutions are pretty healthy. Moreover, we have four state-run funds to help stabilize the market,” Chiu said.

He said that the government had recently been actively buying shares using the four funds and encouraged public banks to use the opportunity to bargain-hunt for value stocks.

While the four state-run funds have entered the market, Chiu said that current conditions did not warrant activation of the National Stabilization Fund (國安基金) because the financial troubles of the US’ Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and the American International Group were “economic” in nature.

The Regulation on the Establishment of the National Stabilization Fund (國安基金設置條例) states that the fund can only be used when the market tumbles because of non-economic factors.

“The most important thing is that investors should not panic” as this could trigger a systemic financial crisis, Chiu said.

Lee Jih-chu said that the FSC had asked banks to keep a close eye on the restructuring proceedings of Lehman Brothers and to actively help their investors seek compensation for potential losses.

The commission has said that Taiwan has a total of NT$80 billion in investments linked to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, with NT$40 billion owned by banks, securities, insurance and investment trusts and another NT$40 billion by individual investors.

The government has assessed the potential damage from the US financial crisis on Taiwan and deemed it “controllable,” the premier said later yesterday.

Liu said the public shouldn’t over-react, as the measures the government had adopted recently, including halving the securities transaction tax for half a year, would help revitalize the stock market in the medium to long term.
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