Thanks to his harmonious, well-rounded personality, as well as his expertise in the financial sector, outgoing Vice Minister of Finance William Tseng (曾銘宗) has been made the new chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), his supporters say.
However, Tseng is also known for his cautiousness and conservatism, which could prevent him from being judged an effective chairman by the public or by financial companies, observers say.
Tseng — who is also temporarily taking the position of Taiwan Financial Holding Co (台灣金控) and Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) chairman — yesterday gave a farewell speech to about 20 reporters at the Ministry of Finance, who were waiting to interview him after Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) announced that Tseng was replacing outgoing commission Chairman Chen Yuh-chang (陳裕璋).
“I really appreciate all the support given to be by the media during my term in the ministry over the past five years,” Tseng said.
However, he refused to respond to questions about his new duties and policy priorities at the commission.
“It is not appropriate [to talk about these issues] in terms of either courtesy or legitimacy,” he said, in a show of respect to Chen, who is still in charge of the commission before the handover ceremony takes place tomorrow or Thursday.
Tseng, 54, has been a public servant for more than 10 years. During this time, he has worked in various managerial positions at Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) and the commission, before being assigned to the position of vice minister of finance in 2008, which also made him the convener of the Stabilization Fund (國家金融安定基金).
Various ministry officials yesterday praised Tseng for his abilities to maintain the stability of the nation’s securities markets when the global financial crisis began in 2008, as well as his ability to protect the management rights of several state-owned banks.
Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said Tseng had been his best “right-hand man” and assisted him significantly in various tasks since taking the position in June last year.
Nevertheless, Tseng’s characteristic prudence and pragmatism may make him ill-equipped to steer the commission during a time when the financial sector is experiencing difficult times, a finance expert who preferred to remain anonymous said yesterday.
“It will be a challenge for him to oversee the nation’s financial sector because this requires enacting substantial changes in financial laws and the implementation of new policies that will achieve the healthy development of the sector,” the expert said.
Although the expert said he had expected the government would have assigned someone more open-minded to the position, he hopes Tseng will become more flexible and respect market mechanisms when he assumes his new role.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is