The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) plans to strictly supervise foreign-registered Taiwanese companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange after Tony Huang (黃文烈), the former chairman of Cayman Islands-registered Pharmally International Holding Co (康友製藥), was indicted for allegedly colluding with Chinese businesspeople to falsify accounts and financial statements.
In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the commission said that it is scheduled to brief lawmakers on its measures to supervise the management of so-called “KY stocks” at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee today.
KY stocks refer to overseas Taiwanese businesses with a primary listing on the nation’s main board.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
The Taiwan Stock Exchange on Aug. 18 suspended trading of Pharmally shares pending the company’s second-quarter financial statement and the results of the investigation into Huang, who disappeared on Aug. 6 and is reportedly in Singapore.
“The commission has asked the Taiwan Stock Exchange to propose relevant strengthening measures,” the FSC said in the report. “That includes the implementation of seven measures derived from three aspects: corporate governance, expert supervision and supervisory agency.”
Among the new measures is a requirement that certified public accountants inspect foreign-registered companies’ financial statements every six months beginning next year, as opposed to the current annual inspection, the report said.
To expand the scale of Taiwan’s capital markets, promote the internationalization of domestic capital markets and advance the diversification of financial products, the government in 2008 began to encourage overseas Taiwanese businesses to seek a primary listing in Taiwan, the report said.
Taiwan’s campaign to attract investors and explore potential opportunities has seen the number of KY companies reach 110 as of the end of October — 77 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and 33 listed on the Taipei Exchange.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange once touted the listing policy as an opportunity for overseas Taiwanese businesses to consider business upgrades, channel development, long-term corporate sustainability and improve brand recognition.
The commission plans to bolster its corporate governance mechanism by enhancing the function of listed companies’ audit committees and improving information disclosure, the report said.
For instance, independent directors are asked to monitor implementation of their company’s internal controls and lending practices, while companies are encouraged to hold more conference calls with investors, and their chairpersons or independent directors are advised to attend the conference in person, it said.
As for expert supervision, the commission said that equity underwriters should visit the companies every year to meet with board directors and independent directors, as well as attend board meetings or review the minutes of the meetings every year for two years to better understand the company’s financial status and operations.
Meanwhile, the report said that the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange need to collect further corporate credit information and immediately grasp information that affects a company’s financial situation.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS