Jerome Chen (
"My resignation takes effect today [yesterday]," Chen said in a statement yesterday afternoon.
"It's time for me to pass on the helm [to others] since our work in revamping First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) has set a good example for [the privatization of] state-run banks," he added.
Giving his approval, Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) told a press conference later yesterday that he respects Chen's decision and will soon find successors for Chen and First Financial president Ray Dawn (董瑞彬), who also submitted his resignation.
"Within the next one or two days, the ministry hopes to either finalize replacements who are highly recognized in the banking circles, or designate temporary substitutes to head the financial institution," Lin said.
First Financial is two-fifths owned by the government and Chen is one of the company's board directors on behalf of the ministry.
Lin said he has informed President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) about Jerome Chen's resignation. But he dismissed media speculation that Jerome Chen was forced to leave his post after the government expressed displeasure with his management of a recent share sales.
First Financial late last month raised US$515 million through the sale of 1 billion new shares in the form of global depositary receipts to overseas investors. But the authorities found out later that part of the shares were instead sold to offshore units of Taiwanese financial institutions such as Yuanta Securities Corp (元大證券), which drew criticism of Chen.
"There may have some flaws in the deal, which was originally aimed to attract foreign investors," Lin said, "but it has nothing to do with [Jerome] Chen's resignation."
Chen's resignation caught most of the bank's staff by surprise.
"We are surprised to hear of the chairman's resignation," First Financial's executive vice president Huang Hsien-chuan (
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
RSS