Premier Lin Chuan (林全) has appointed Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) as the new chairman of the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), Cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday.
The appointment came amid speculation that Shih, an experienced academic and veteran of Taiwan’s financial regulatory agency, would replace Lee Sush-der (李述德), who is scheduled to retire at the end of this month.
Tung said that Shih, currently a minister without portfolio, has a wealth of experience and a good reputation in both economic theory development and financial market practices, making him a good candidate to take the helm of the TWSE, which operates the local main board.
Photo: CNA
Shih formerly served as chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), the top financial regulator in Taiwan, and was a research fellow at Academia Sinica, the nation’s top research institution.
Shih was born in August 1955 and has a doctorate in economics from National Taiwan University. As a minister without portfolio, he is in charge of policies regarding economics, communication and trade negotiations, including possible talks on entering the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Citing Lin, Tung said that the TWSE chairman plays an important role in the capital market, as Taiwan is keen to attract funding at home and from overseas to energize its capital market.
Tung said that when Shih served as FSC chairman, he worked closely with the domestic financial market.
As a research fellow at Academia Sinica, Shih has conducted a great deal of research on Taiwan’s financial market, Tung said.
He said Shih has done a good job as a minister without portfolio and his expertise in the financial market makes him ideal for the position of TWSE chairman.
After Shih assumes his new post, he is to step down from his position as minister without portfolio.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS