Taiwan will open its stock and futures markets to qualified direct institutional investors (QDIIs) from China later this year in a bid to attract more foreign investment to help prop up the nation’s financial markets, Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) said yesterday.
The move is expected to lead to an influx of US$1.12 billion into the stock market in the first year, estimates from industry observers showed.
The scope of what Chinese QDIIs will be allowed to trade is expected to be announced in one or two months, Chiu said at a forum on a financial memorandums of understanding (MOU) across the Taiwan Strait and financial reform.
Meanwhile, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) said at a legislative session that the commission, in collaboration with the central bank, would map out regulations to pave the way for Chinese QDIIs to invest in the nation’s financial markets, such as whether they will have the right to act as members of the board of directors or as supervisors.
After Taiwan and China sign MOUs on cooperation in the supervision of banking, securities and insurance, China is also expected to lift its cap on QDII investment in Taiwan from 3 percent to 10 percent of QDII funds, which is estimated to be approximately NT$30 billion.
If QDIIs buy shares in financial institutions, a cap on the size of the investment will be imposed by Taiwan, Chen said.
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NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
RESHAPING COMMERCE: Major industrialized economies accepted 15 percent duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger US President Donald Trump has unveiled a slew of new tariffs that boosted the average US rate on goods from across the world, forging ahead with his turbulent effort to reshape international commerce. The baseline rates for many trading partners remain unchanged at 10 percent from the duties Trump imposed in April, easing the worst fears of investors after the president had previously said they could double. Yet his move to raise tariffs on some Canadian goods to 35 percent threatens to inject fresh tensions into an already strained relationship, while nations such as Switzerland and New Zealand also saw increased