Newly installed First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) chairman Jason Liao (廖燦昌) said he would steer the company with professional prowess as critics raised questions over his appointment.
Liao, who stepped down as chairman of Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co (合作金控) in November 2017 to take responsibility for losses in connection with a loan default by Kaohsiung-based Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶富造船), was tapped last week to head First Financial.
Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行), the main subsidiary of Taiwan Cooperative Financial, is only one of 10 state-run lenders that took part in the syndicated loan of NT$20.5 billion (US$664.61 million), Liao said on the sidelines of a handover ceremony.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
“Prior to that, Taiwan Cooperative posted record profits of more than NT$10 billion for two consecutive years under my reign,” Liao said, adding that the results proved his management skills.
Liao held various positions at other state-run banks before joining Taiwan Cooperative Financial.
Liao replaced Ray Dawn (董瑞斌), who told local media over the weekend that he would turn down offers for other positions and return to academia.
Dawn is reportedly displeased about the reshuffle after guiding First Financial to record profits last year.
“I don’t want a new appointment, but hope that someone can provide reasons for my being replaced,” Dawn told Chinese-language Economic Daily News on Friday last week.
New Power Party lawmaker Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) had asked Liao to step down from his position to avoid bringing disgrace to First Financial.
In Taiwan, state-run financial institutions must support government policy as they seek to improve earnings.
Also yesterday, the board of state-run Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) approved the installation of Joanne Ling (凌忠嫄) as the bank’s new chairwoman, as 65-year-old Chang Ming-daw (張明道) is planning to retire.
Ling was chairwoman of state-owned Land Bank of Taiwan (土銀). Former Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行) president Hwang Bor-chang (黃柏川) filled the vacancy.
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],”
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
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