The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday announced that it would lift restrictions imposed on venture capital (VC) investments by domestic banks in a bid to promote utilization of idle deposits.
The change, which is expected to be implemented before the end of this year, would raise the ratio that banks are allowed to invest in venture capital firms from 5 percent to 100 percent, the commission said.
In addition, banks could directly invest up to 3 percent of their net worth into venture capital, which translates to a potential investment pool of about NT$100 billion (US$3.3 billion), the commission said.
The measure is made possible by reclassifying venture capital as a part of the financial industry and circumventing limits imposed on non-financial industry investments by banks, it added.
“Following the exit of the nation’s last industrial bank, the change is aimed at meeting the need for direct investments and funding for start-up companies,” Koo said.
To contain risk, the venture capital subsidiaries may not own more than a 15 percent stake in an investee or take on leverage of more than 125 percent in venture capital activities, the commission said.
In separate news, commission Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) urged SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) to separate ownership and management in a bid to improve its corporate governance.
SinoPac Financial is again under investigation by the commission to determine whether its decision to terminate an executive had violated a law barring retaliation against whistle-blowers.
The company on Friday last week terminated former SinoPac Securities Ltd (永豐金證券) chief financial officer Melody Wang (王幗英), who had revealed alleged wrongdoings at the company.
Among her revelations was proof of over-concentration of margin credit on stock positions in China Huishan Dairy Holdings Co (中國輝山乳業) shares at Hong Kong-based SinoPac Securities (Asia) Ltd (永豐金證券), which led to considerable losses for the brokerage and its clients after the troubled Chinese company was in May delisted from the territory’s bourse.
Prior to her termination, Wang was demoted to an inconsequential post.
“Wang’s disclosures were directed at the misdeeds of SinoPac Financial’s majority shareholders. The commission is to make the case into an example of its efforts to improve corporate governance,” Koo said.
“The Ho (何) family must relinquish their grip on the company and place management under the responsibility of professionals,” Koo said, referring to Ho Shou-chuan (何壽川), a majority shareholder SinoPac Financial.
“Whistle-blowers face many challenges ahead and they ought have some support and protection,” Koo said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last