Taiwan’s financial sector can expand its business map in China by securing a foothold in the southeastern province of Fujian, part of a proposed coastal economic zone, analysts said yesterday at a cross-strait trade forum.
Andy Chang (張五岳), director of the Institute of China Studies at Tamkang University, said local financial institutions could open branches in Fujian or acquire shares of Chinese lenders there once regulations are announced.
To that end, Chang suggested Taiwanese negotiators seek to persuade their Chinese counterparts to turn the planned economic zone into a test area where Taiwanese financial firms enjoy preferential treatment in a bid to integrate the neighboring economies.
The proposed zone aims to accelerate economic integration with Taiwan as well as promote reunification, Chinese media said.
Chang said Taiwanese banking institutes would probably have difficulty competing with foreign financial service providers in China’s first-grade cities, like Shanghai and Beijing.
Tu Cheng-hua (杜震華), a political science professor at National Taiwan University, agreed. He said financial institutions could consider Fujian as their springboard in tapping the Chinese market.
“Fujian promises a gateway in this regard,” Tu said, adding that China-bound lenders could focus on consumer finance and credit business.
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the nation’s second-biggest financial services provider, has a 19.9 percent stake in Xiamen City Commercial Bank (廈門市商銀), with a view to making further inroads in China once legal barriers are removed.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure