Taiwan's first asset management company (AMC) is expected to apply to authorities for a company license with a registered capitalization of NT$25 billion before the end of March, the Commercial Times reported yesterday.
The new AMC -- officially named Taiwan Asset Management Co (TAMC,
The company's founding shareholders are 35 domestic banks. It is scheduled to complete its incorporation registration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (
An AMC disposes collateral held by domestic banks generated from NT$1 trillion-plus non-performing loans.
Lin Cheng-kuo (
According to Lin, the company has currently raised NT$15 billion in capital from its 35 member banks. In the next stage, another NT$10 billion would be raised from foreign investors and domestic non-financial institutions. The new company is scheduled to operate in the second half of this year, with NT$25 billion of capital.
"The first AMC is expected to fully develop its AMC function in one to two years," said Lin at the founders' meeting.
"After the company is established, it will dispose of problematic assets held by member banks at an early stage. But it will also accept problematic assets from non-member banks if we are asked to do so," said Lin.
Lin added that before it applies for a corporate license next month, there would be at least five more banks participating as member banks, which would mean the number of member banks would exceed 40.
The board of directors will consist of nine to 15 members. Currently, nine directors have been named, and six more directorships have been left for future shareholders, including foreign investors and non-financial institutions, according to Lin.
"A number of foreign and domestic companies have expressed interest in participating in the new AMC. After the operation plan is completed, we will invite these potential investors," said Lin.
"According to Article 15 of the Financial Institutions Law, the losses after banks sell their problematic assets to AMCs, can be written off in the next five years," said Lin. "Through auctioning by the AMCs and financial assets service companies (FASCs), the long period time required by a court's auctioning process could be shortened. The AMC will provide an alternative for the banking industry when disposing of problematic assets."
Since the business of an AMC is a new field for domestic banks, how TAMC is going to compete with foreign players has become a controversial issue.
"First, I would like to stress that establishing an AMC is not like building a space shuttle -- it does not require such high technology," said Lin. "We do not have to see the task as extremely difficult. Actually it's quite simple to run an AMC if it operates efficiently on disposing problematic assets from domestic banks. If we apply new concepts and a positive attitude, and manage it with flexibility, I believe we will complete the task. We just have to be self-confident."
Lin said that as the first domestic AMC, he expects to become the most successful AMC. "We will never lose to our competitors," vowed Lin in the meeting.
"However, since our personnel require some training and practice at this early stage, we anticipate that TAMC will be up to full speed in one to two years after setting up. Some patience is required at the beginning," stressed Lin.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed