The amendments to the three revised statutes governing the operations of banks, insurance companies and securities houses were enacted yesterday, paving the way for Taiwanese banks to file applications to branch into China.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) was to start accepting applications yesterday afternoon.
FSC Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) said that it would take about two months for the FSC’s Banking Bureau to screen applications filed by local banks to invest in China and that it would take another four to six months for Chinese authorities to process the applications before granting licenses.
“Taiwanese banks will be able to formally venture into China by the end of the year at the earliest,” Chen told the legislative finance committee yesterday.
All the local state-owned banks, including Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫), First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Chang Hwa Bank (彰化銀行), Business Bank of Taiwan (台灣企銀) and Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), said they would submit applications as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Banking Bureau Director-General Kuei Hsien-nung (桂先農) said screening and supervision of Chinese banks making inroads into Taiwan would be a “dual track” mechanism, with the FSC and the Investment Commission under the Ministry of Economic Affairs in charge.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.2 and NT$0.3 per liter respectively, after international crude oil prices increased last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week snapped a two-week losing streak as the geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine turned increasingly tense, CPC said in a statement. News that some oil production facilities in Alberta, Canada, were shut down due to wildfires and that US-Iran nuclear talks made no progress also helped push oil prices to a significant weekly gain, Formosa said
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,