The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) will keep a close watch on the European debt crisis to minimize its impact locally, while trying to allow local financial institutions greater flexibility in cross-strait expansion this year, FSC Chairman Chen Yuh-chang (陳裕璋) said yesterday.
“Developments in Europe’s debt crisis will continue to top our list of concerns this year,” Chen said while briefing the media on his policy agenda.
To avoid a credit crunch, the commission aims to increase bank loans to small and medium enterprises (SME) this year by NT$220 billion (US$7.43 billion), from NT$200 billion last year, Chen said.
Total outstanding loans by domestic lenders to SMEs stood at NT$4.76 trillion at the end of December, surging NT$399.1 billion from a year earlier, or nearly double the target, the commission’s statistics showed.
The commission is reviewing the possibility of easing ties between local financial institutions and their overseas branches so they may provide a greater array of wealth management products and services for customers here, Chen said.
Chen added that he is scheduled to have another meeting with his Chinese counterpart in the first half of the year for talks on easier market access and financing terms for Taiwanese firms based in China.
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