Taiwan is close to allowing Chinese financial institutions to set up representative offices here for the first time in 55 years, as economic relations improve.
"We have already reached a consensus to allow those companies from China to come here," said Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Kong Jaw-sheng (
"So it's just a matter of time. It may happen any day now," he said.
Beijing so far has allowed seven Taiwanese banks to set up representative offices in China, and three other applications have been approved.
Executives from Cathay Financial Holding Co, the country's biggest financial group, were in China yesterday for the official opening of an insurance venture with China Eastern Air Holding Co, China's third-largest airline. An estimated 1 million Taiwanese live and work in China, where US$100 billion has been invested by Taiwanese businesses.
"The move shows Taiwan's strong determination to develop into a regional financial center," said Andrew Chen, who oversees the equivalent of US$2.7 billion as president of HSBC Asset Management Taiwan.
"This also sends goodwill to China, signaling the government's willingness to facilitate regional economic integration that will also help Taiwan," he said.
China Merchants Bank, Industrial Bank Co, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Ltd and Pudong Development Bank in November 2003 received approval from Chinese regulators to set up representative offices in Taiwan. They are still awaiting approval from the government here. China's big four banks -- Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China -- are reorganizing to meet competition from overseas lenders that will enter the market of 1.3 billion people freely at the end of next year.
Expanding overseas benefits the banks as they diversify income and raise their profile ahead of international share sales.
Taiwan's GDP is forecast to grow 4.6 percent this year, compared with a projected 5.9 percent last year. China's economy expanded 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter from the year earlier period.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS