An executive at the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) called for China to further open its market to Taiwan’s banking sector in a bid to meet the financing needs of many small and medium-sized enterprises in China.
TWSE president Samuel Hsu (許仁壽), who is also an associate professor in the Department of Finance at National Chengchi University, said many Taiwanese banks, which are well experienced at extending loans to small and medium-sized firms in Taiwancould use their expertise to serve the business sector in China.
Speaking at a business forum on Friday night held in Lujiazui, a financial district in Shanghai, Hsu said that because there is room for direct financing in China to grow, the presence of Taiwanese banks could provide financial assistance to many Chinese enterprises.
Hsu said since Taiwan has about 1.2 million small and medium-sized firms, its banking sector has accrued extensive experience in working with businesses, in particular in the provision of credit to these firms.
“If China allows more Taiwanese banks to provide services in its market, I am sure that the banks will be able to share their experience with their Chinese counterparts and grow with the mainland market,” Hsu said.
In addition to the banking business, Hsu urged Chinese financial authorities to relax regulations on investments in the securities and insurance businesses for Taiwanese operators.
Bank of China (中國銀行), one of the leading lenders on the mainland, opened a branch in Taipei earlier this week, making itself the first Chinese bank to operate in Taiwan, while Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), the largest lender on the island, has not been allowed to open a branch in China.
Bank of Taiwan is eyeing the huge Chinese yuan denominated business and gearing up to become the primary settlement bank once a currency settlement mechanism across the Taiwan Strait is established.
As Bank of Communications (交通銀行), another leading mainland lender, is scheduled to open a branch in Taipei this month, Hsu said, he expects cross-strait financial exchanges will increase accordingly.
Hsu said that with economic cross-strait exchanges on the rise — bilateral trade last year totaled US$160 billion and accumulated Taiwanese investments in China have exceeded US$100 billion — Taiwan is looking forward to more financial cooperation and forging closer business ties with China.
He added that he hoped Taipei and Beijing would sign a currency settlement agreement as soon as possible.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy