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.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the