President Chen Shui-bian (
On Wednesday, the chairman, president and vice president were replaced at China Bills Finance on orders from a state-backed investment fund. The official explanation is that the reshuffle is needed to bring in new blood that will help get the nation's state-run financial institutions into shape.
But analysts have their doubts.
"It's probably more a question of politics rather than financial problems at China Bills," said Gary Tsai, who helps manage NT$3.6 billion of stocks at ING CHB Securities and Investment Trust Ltd. "There are plenty of other banks with worse bad-loan ratios than China Bills."
First Commercial Bank President Tseng Chien-cheng (
China Bills' president Tsai Kao-ming (
Other top heads that rolled recently were the chairman of Chiao Tung Bank on July 16, and the chairman of Bank of Overseas Chinese on July 20.
The executive secretary the Cabinet's Development Fund, Chang Siu-lien (
But analyst Gary Tsai pointed to China Bills' healthy financial numbers, noting its low bad loan ratio of 3.9 percent.
That compares with 5.89 percent of total outstanding loans extended by domestic banks as of the end of March, according to the central bank.
The government's development fund instigated the changes to improve management and operations at the company, said George Shiu, the fund's deputy director.
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Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique