The minister of finance said yesterday that Taiwan would not create a US-style resolution trust corporation to resolve the nation's overdue loan problem.
"Although the overdue loan ratio of credit cooperatives is considered relatively high, there is no necessity to establish a resolution trust corporation to handle the problem," Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章) said yesterday.
This is the first time that the minister of finance has stated clearly whether the government will use a state-run resolution trust corporation to solve the NT$1 trillion non-performing loan problem.
Yen supports using privately owned asset management companies to clean up the finance industry's mess.
In addition, the 2001 fiscal budget does not include money for a resolution trust corporation -- evidence that the ministry of finance has little intention of establishing one.
Originally, the finance ministry had been planning to establish both privately owned asset management companies and a state-run resolution trust corporation to tackle the nation's troubled banking industry.
Meanwhile, Premier Chang Chung-hsiung (
Yen made his comments on the government's intentions while briefing Chang.
"There will be only privately owned asset management companies. No state-owned asset management company has been considered by the finance ministry," Yen said.
"Taiwan only needs [privately run] asset management companies to assist in disposing of problematic loans. As to the high [overdue loan] ratio of the credit cooperatives, the administration has to solve the problem" and a plan is currently under consideration, he said.
"However, a resolution trust corporation is not needed to take care of the problem."
On Friday, the Legislative Yuan passed the Financial Institutions Merger Act. The bill includes regulations on the establishment of asset management companies.
A number of banks have signalled their intention to get into the business, including Chinatrust Commercial Bank (
As for the nation's troubled fishermen's and farmers' credit associations, Yen said he did have a plan to address that mess.
"The finance ministry has already a number of solutions to the problem," Yen said. "But since a final solution has not been determined, I am not able to disclose it yet. However, the related expenses will be included in the next fiscal budget. The finance ministry will take an active approach to the problem."
Meanwhile, local media reported yesterday that the finance ministry plans to merge ailing credit cooperatives and use an asset management company to rid them of bad loans.
The report, which quoted Yen, said the finance minister could outline the measures as early as today.
The plan allegedly will focus on potentially forcing credit cooperatives into merging into a national farmers' bank.
There are nearly 400 credit cooperatives and fishermen's and farmers' credit associations in Taiwan.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
RSS