Bank of Beijing Co (北京銀行), part owned by ING Groep NV, is in talks to buy half of ING’s Chinese life insurance venture in what would be its second acquisition in three months.
Bank of Beijing is negotiating terms for Beijing Capital Group Co’s 50 percent stake in ING Capital Life Insurance Co (首創安泰人壽), it said in a statement yesterday. ING Groep, the biggest Dutch financial-services firm, owns the other half of ING Capital Life, which was established in 2002 and had 2 billion yuan (US$293 million) in premiums at the end of last year.
China is letting banks expand into brokering, fund management and insurance, winding back former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji’s (朱鎔基) 1993 restrictions, to help them become less reliant on income from lending. A 64 percent stock market drop this year has curbed mutual fund sales at banks, and a slowing economy is eroding demand for loans while pushing bad debts higher.
Bank of Beijing won approval in July to buy 20 percent of Langfang City Commercial Bank (廊坊市商業銀行) for 127.5 million yuan. The bank now has 131 branches in Beijing and outlets in Tianjin, Shanghai and Xian.
ING, which received a 10 billion euro (US$13.4 billion) lifeline from the Netherlands, agreed to sell its Taiwanese life insurance unit for US$600 million to Taipei-based Fubon Financial Holdings Co (富邦金控), the two firms said on Monday.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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