MEGABANK: The merger of four banks, including the Bank of Taiwan, will have an 18 percent share of the nation's lending market and NT$3.88 trillion in deposit savings
By Joyce Huang
State-run Taiwan Financial Holding Co (台灣金控), which is slated to launch operations on Jan. 2, will be the 18th-largest financial service provider in Asia in terms of assets -- and the world's 89th-largest -- with NT$5.12 trillion (US$1.57 billion) in assets.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Jerry Lin
The Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and solar energy industries are expected to become key drivers for the nation's economy in the next few years, a Ministry of Economic Affairs official said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Joyce Huang
The plan to launch a new stock market to attract listings by overseas companies will be one of the financial regulator's top priorities next year, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正) told a year-end press briefing yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

The nation's largest online bookstore -- books.com.tw (博客來) -- has seen its turnover increase nearly 40 percent this year, thanks to its successful alliance with 7-Eleven, the company said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Jerry Lin
The government launched a NT$280 million (US$8.6 million) fund last month to invest in emerging Middle Eastern markets in cooperation with the private sector, a government official said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's biggest phone company, forecast subscribers to its Internet television service will more than triple by the end of next year, boosted by coverage of the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing in August.

[ FULL STORY ]

ADVANCED PROCESS: The license allows the Chinese company to manufacture chips using 45-nanometer technology to expand its range of 3G handset chips
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), China's biggest chipmaker, jumped by a record in Hong Kong trading after acquiring a technology license from International Business Machines Corp (IBM).

[ FULL STORY ]

Domestic stocks yesterday rose on speculation that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would be cleared of corruption charges today, enabling him to run for office.

[ FULL STORY ]

Capital outflows from Asia have been surging, with Hong Kong and Singapore in the lead, a Lehman Brothers report said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

GDP growth stable last month
[ FULL STORY ]