Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) said yesterday that the commission would formulate a reward mechanism today, enabling local banks whose lending amount grows by 0.5 percent per month to enjoy a lower deposit insurance premium rate.
Chen made the remark at the legislature’s Finance Committee, saying the government was mulling plans to spur bank loans to local businesses hit by the global credit crisis.
His comment also came in the wake of criticism by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) that the government’s promises were merely slogans because access to capital remained increasingly difficult for many firms.
“If this problem persists, many businesses will be forced to close down,” the Chinese-language United Evening News quoted Gao as saying yesterday.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千), however, said private banks needed to take into account their shareholders’ interests first.
If the government does not provide enough support to banks, “moral suasion” alone will not encourage banks to extend loans to local businesses, the newspaper cited Sun as saying.
Sun also suggested that the FSC should consider coordinating with the Ministry of Finance to compensate banks for risks arising from increasing loans to businesses should any losses occur.
KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) said many banks would refrain from increasing lending to make their year-end financial reports look better, adding that the commission should come up with more concrete policies.
“If banks want to make their financial reports look better, they should increase lending so that their non-performing loan ratio will [drop and] look more attractive,” Chen said.
He added that while a lending freeze persisted in October, local banks began easing credit last month.
Lawmakers yesterday also lambasted the government’s effort to aid local companies when many of their chief executives still enjoy high salaries.
In response, Chen said these highly paid executives should cut their salaries first before approaching the government for assistance, although the government cannot force them to do so.
FSC Vice Chairman Wu Tang-chieh (吳當傑) said yesterday the commission would revise regulations to enhance information disclosure transparency for listed companies.
Listed companied that have posted losses for two consecutive years will be required to reveal remuneration paid to their executive directors, Wu said, adding that high-level officials should be accountable to their shareholders.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS