The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Thursday said it is launching new wealth management rules that would allow eligible banks to offer their high-asset customers new financial products and services next quarter.
The new rules, part of the Regulations Governing Banks Conducting Financial Products and Services for High-Asset Customers (銀行辦理高資產客戶適用之金融商品及服務管理辦法), would take effect after a 60-day notice, FSC Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.
“We will collect opinions from banks or relevant institutions during this period. Meanwhile, 60 days should be enough for the banks to prepare to kick-start new services,” Koo said.
BIGGER RISK
As the new financial products generate higher investment risks, only banks with solid financials, large-scale management services and good corporate governance would qualify, Koo added.
The FSC requires qualifying banks to maintain a minimum common equity Tier-1 ratio of 9.5 percent, a minimum Tier-1 capital ratio of 11 percent and a capital adequacy ratio no less than 13 percent in total, he said.
The banks’ aggregate amount of investable client assets must be equal to or higher than NT$300 billion (US$9.87 billion), while their outstanding balance in trust and over-the-counter structured products minus securities under custody must be equal to or higher than NT$150 billion, Koo said.
Banks that have been fined for breaching regulations are not eligible to apply for the program, he said.
After the 60-day notice, the FSC would announce the list of eligible banks, he said.
High-asset customers are defined as having more than NT$100 million, similar to private banks in Hong Kong, Koo said.
CLIENT COMMUNICATION
Under the new regulations, participating banks must discuss risks with their clients in person or through videoconferencing, and confirm that they understand the risks before selling them the new products, he said.
The new program permits banks to provide eight new financial products or services, such as foreign-currency-denominated structured notes and derivatives linked to the TAIEX or other index in the local equity market, the commission’s data showed.
Last year, Koo said that the new rules would help banks expand their wealth management services to compete with Hong Kong and Singapore, with the former’s financial-hub status showing weakness in the months since pro-democracy protests started in June last year.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure