■ Watchdog begins meetings
Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Kong Law-sheng (龔照勝) led the commission's officials to meet Hua Nan Financial Holding Co (華南金控) Chairman Lin Ming-cheng (林明成) and top executives yesterday to get learn about the company's development strategy, which was part of the regulator's consolidation plan to halve the number of the nation's financial groups to seven by the year end. The commission is slated to hold the second meeting of this kind with Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) next week. The financial watchdog expected to finish its meetings with all financial folding firms in the next two to three months. Hua Nan Financial made suggestions for the regulator's planned competitiveness measurement system and proposed to relax the firewall mechanism designed to restrict financial holding firms' internal exchanges of clients information and internal trading, the commission spokesman Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正) said, while adding that proper management was necessary. He declined to disclose meeting details, citing confidentiality.
■ MasterCard launches Web site
To promote correct debt management and consumption concepts, MasterCard International yesterday launched an interactive Chinese-language Web site to give consumers a thorough check-up of their financial conditions and help them deal with their debt issues. The organization is also scheduled to hold a series of forums on university campuses around the nation from this month to June, with entertainer Pink Yang (楊千霈) acting as the program's spokeswoman to share with students her experiences. Developed from the English-language Web site "Debt Know How" launched last year, the new site (www.mastercard.com.tw) is designed with simple assessment tools and quizzes for users to check their own debt warning signs and calculate debt-to-income ratios. A similar Web site has also been launched by Visa International at www.mymoneyskills.com.tw.
■ Agency completes evaluation
The Directorate General of Telecommunications (DGT) under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is expected to issue its first license for IP phone operators in June after completing an evaluation on Internet communications surveillance, a local daily reported on Monday. The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported that the government announced last November that fixed-network operators with a minimum of NT$500 million (US$15.5 million) in capital are eligible to apply for a license to provide IP phone services. Operators that pass the government's evaluation will be given a batch of 11-digit phone numbers starting with "070" for them to sell to IP phone users. Although the measure came into effect three months ago, investigative authorities have not formulated related packages that ensure Internet communications security, the DGT said. The lack of a sound package has hampered many operators' plans to enter the IP phone market, which is seeing rising numbers of Taiwanese users turning to the Internet for phone conversations, the report said. While Skype and Yahoo already offer phone services via the Internet in Taiwan, no phone numbers are provided to the subscribers, which limits the functions and services of IP phones.
■ NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.136 to close at NT$32.231. US$1.49 billion changed hands during the day's trading.
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