The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), the Taipei Exchange (TPEX), the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) and Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC) could move into one building in downtown Taipei in six years, TWSE chairman Hsu Jan-yau (許璋瑤) said yesterday.
The four companies have invested in an urban renewal project run by Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) that would transform the historic Taipei Beimen Post Office site into a national postal museum and two high-rises, Hsu told a news conference in Taipei.
The four are mulling whether to move into one of the high-rises, which could make their coordination efforts more efficient, once construction is completed in six years’ time, he said.
Photo: CNA
TWSE rents office space in Taipei 101, while the other three are headquartered either in Taipei’s Songshan (松山) or Zhongzheng (中正) districts.
The Financial Supervisory Commission, now in New Taipei’s City’s Banciao District (板橋), would probably also relocate to the same building, but it is still in talks with the National Property Administration (NPA), the landowner of the renewal project, he said.
The commission’s plan to have all of its units relocate to the new building has not been finalized, Securities and Futures Bureau Chief Secretary Kao Ching-ping (高晶萍) told the Taipei Times.
Whether the TWSE’s Banciao-based information center, which addresses all online transactions of stocks listed in TWSE and accommodates the TPEX’s and TAIFEX’s computers systems, would also be moved is also uncertain, Kao said.
In related news, the TWSE has set a goal of 24 initial public offering applications this year amid expectations that the economy would improve as the COVID-19 pandemic slows down, Hsu said.
While the TWSE is planning to establish the Taiwan Innovation Board (TIB) for start-ups focused on Internet of Things or artificial intelligence, and biotech firms by July at the earliest, it hopes to see at least five applications, TWSE president Chien Lih-chung (簡立忠) said.
Given that some firms have already approached the exchange to ask about the TIB, it seems that start-ups are interested in the new boards, Chien said.
Meanwhile, Hsu said that odd-lot trading has pushed up the number of shareholders of several high-priced stocks, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Largan Precision Co (大立光), since such transactions — referring to orders of fewer than 1,000 — began on Oct. 26 last year.
Thanks to odd-lot trading, the number of brokerage accounts nationwide rose to 616,000 at the end of last year from 218,000 prior to Oct. 26, with the number of investors aged between 21 and 30 more than tripling during that period, TWSE data showed.
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