The Ministry of Finance is to suggest that the Cabinet create a platform to marshal the operations of four state funds to boost their efficiency and profitability so they can better help strengthen the nation’s financial health, Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said yesterday.
“The idea is to integrate the four funds into a quasi-sovereign wealth fund [SWF] without needing to revise the law,” Chang said by telephone.
The funds are the Labor Insurance Fund, Labor Pension Fund, Public Service Pension Fund and postal savings deposits with an aggregate value of more than NT$7 trillion (US$223.34 billion).
Government agencies are due to recommend measures to revive the economy during the Cabinet’s regular weekly meeting tomorrow.
The four funds cannot now function as an SWF, maximizing returns through investment in global stocks, commodities, real estate, hedge funds and private equities because they are designed to operate separately, with a focus on Taiwanese shares and helping support the local bourse if requested, Chang said.
Due to a lack of integration and coordination, one fund might be selling certain shares while another is buying them, which is inefficient, the minister said.
Existing rules also limit the use of profits generated by the funds, tying government’s hands in times of need, he said.
“A joint management platform can prevent such scenarios and make the funds more profitable and flexible,” Chang said.
For the medium and long term, the ministry plans to push for legal revisions to establish a sovereign wealth fund, allowing the four state funds to have a more diversified portfolio and higher returns, Chang said.
There should be no big obstacle to a joint management platform even though the four have separate contracts with different portfolio managers.
Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (中華經濟研究院) vice president Wang Jiann-chyuan (王健全) voiced support for an SWF whose return may be used to finance social welfare spending linked to the nation’s aging population.
The nation also needs to diversify its exports as overconcentration on a few electronic industries has made the economy vulnerable to global cyclical movements, Wang said.
The Cabinet is likely to set up a NT$10 billion mergers and acquisitions (M&A) fund using the National Development Fund and money from the private sector, local media reported.
The M&A fund would be designed to help Taiwanese companies expand their scale so they can better compete internationally, the media reports said.
The government would help firms to seek acquisition targets at home and abroad, and help them obtain raw materials, technology, brands and talents, the reports said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
READY TO BUY: Shortly after Nvidia announced the approval, Chinese firms scrambled to order the H20 GPUs, which the company must send to the US government for approval Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) late on Monday said the technology giant has won approval from US President Donald Trump’s administration to sell its advanced H20 graphics processing units (GPUs) used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to China. The news came in a company blog post late on Monday and Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run China Global Television Network in remarks shown on X. “The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the post said. “Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us
RSS