Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), the local arm of Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P), appointed Chang Hwa-ping (張華平) as its president and CEO on Friday, replacing outgoing president Eddy Yang (楊鎮龍), its press statement said yesterday.
“Chang’s appointment reflects S&P’s commitment to further strengthening operations in Taiwan,” the statement said.
Chang, who brings knowledge of the debt markets in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, is expected to help develop the nation’s debt market while better serving local investors, it said.
In the past decade, S&P and Taiwan Ratings have been instrumental in building a strong credit culture in Taiwan, thereby supporting the growth of the country’s robust bond market, Chew Ping (周彬), managing director and head of S&P in Greater China, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Taiwan Ratings, which has rated NT$52.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) of debt issuance this year, expects Chang to help the firm meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of the local market, including securitization, while working closely with S&P to service growing cross-strait investment flow, he added.
Chang was involved in Tokyo’s securitization market in senior positions at various global financial institutions before participating in the introduction of structured products in the domestic market as head of the trust department at the Industrial Bank of Taiwan (台灣工銀). Prior to Taiwan Ratings, Chang was managing director of Hong Kong-based Wachovia Securities (美聯證券) and responsible for the growth and development of Wachovia’s structured finance business in Asia.
With its analytical expertise and local presence, Taiwan Ratings has seen robust growth despite intense competition, said Chang Yu-tsung (張毓宗), executive managing director and head of S&P in the Asia-Pacific region.
“The next phase for Taiwan Ratings is to become part of the increasing integration of the region’s growing financial market activity,” he added.
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