Panel urges banks' privatization

The Financial Reform Panel under the Executive Yuan said Wednesday that the government should speed up the privatization of state-run banks and lower its stakes in former state-owned banks to no more than 20 percent of its total shares within three years. In doing so, the government will allow banks more leeway in doing business on their own to create a financial environment favorable to the healthy development of the banking sector in the long run, the panel said.