Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday instructed the Ministry of Finance to continue to promote banking mergers, especially in the wake of last weeks passage of the Financial Institutions Merger Act (FIMA).
Chang made the remarks after being briefed by ministry officials on the state of the nations banking and financial sectors.
Chang said the ministry should strengthen the market environment for financial institutions, which includes establishing asset management companies, promoting mergers among financial institutions and encouraging foreign banks to acquire domestic banks that are facing operational difficulties.
The Chang visit, his first to the embattled ministry since he took over in October, is seen as a morale-boosting trip for the ministry.
The Financial Institutions Merger Act, which was passed on Friday, is expected to help speed up the process of domestic banking sector restructuring.
Chang, was briefed by Minister of Finance Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章). Chang said that the ministry has been the biggest victim of "pressure," originating from domestic instability, which followed "the change in the government of Taiwan."
Chang also said the ministry should come out with "concrete measures" to raise the quality of financial institutions, adding that the government welcomes foreign institutions interested in setting up asset management corporations in Taiwan.
With regards to the stock market, Chang asked the ministry to "improve to the best of its ability the ministry's managerial role" in the stock market and work hard to bring order to the stock market, which is down 50 percent from this year's high.
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