Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) yesterday said share swaps between local banks and Chinese counterparts won’t be addressed in upcoming cross-strait negotiations on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
“The issue will not be discussed in ECFA negotiations,” Chen told reporters after giving a keynote speech at a seminar.
“The issue will be deliberated gradually [by regulators from both sides] either before or after the ECFA is inked, depending on market sentiment,” he said without elaborating.
Chen said that the commission’s earlier signing of memorandums of understanding (MOU) with China on financial supervision should be viewed as an “entry ticket” for local banks to tap into the Chinese market, while “first-class” treatment would have to be finalized by both governments during ECFA negotiations.
Commission Vice Chairwoman Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠) told reporters on the sidelines of the seminar that the regulator may sign a banking MOU with Hong Kong in the first half of next year to allow banks to access both markets.
The commission signed an MOU with Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission in May to allow cross-listing of exchange-traded funds.
Alex Thursby, chief executive officer of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group in Asia Pacific, Europe and America, yesterday lauded Taiwan’s progress in facilitating both financial and economic accords with China, saying this would help internationalize and facilitate structural changes to Taiwan’s economy and its financial market.
“That will also lead to the consolidation of Taiwan’s highly fragmented banking sector,” he said.
In related news, Mckinney Tsai (蔡友才), president of SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控), yesterday told an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting that the company would seek opportunities to swap shares with Chinese banks, the state-run Central News Agency reported.
However, no controlling stake in SinoPac would be relinquished to potential Chinese counterparts, he said.
Tsai said the company, after its capital enhancement plan, will maintain a capital adequacy ratio of above 12 percent, a tier-one capital ratio of above 10 percent, a non-performing loan ratio of below 1 percent and an 80 percent coverage ratio to meet the regulator’s thresholds to qualify as a healthy bank to swap shares.
Shareholders yesterday also approved a proposal to lift the company’s working capital ceiling from NT$100 billion (US$3.1 billion) to NT$120 billion in preparation for expansion into China.
They also authorized the board to raise up to NT$30 billion in long-term capital by issuing up to 200 million in common shares or convertible bonds.
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