Ninety-five percent of Taiwan’s financial firms think that sustainable finance would benefit businesses and enhance the stability of the nation’s financial systems, the results of a survey conducted by HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) and the Taiwan Business Council for Sustainable Development showed on Tuesday.
The survey of 151 local financial firms in the banking, insurance, and securities and investment sectors was conducted in October and November last year.
Ninety percent of respondents have incorporated environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their decisionmaking process, it found.
Photo: AFP
Of those, 48 percent have established formal policies to require employees to take ESG factors into consideration when making investment decisions, while 24 percent consider ESG issues in some cases and 18 percent have no such policy.
Fifty-five percent of securities and investment consulting companies have established formal policies, which ranked first in the three financial sectors, followed by 50 percent of banks and 30 percent of insurers, the survey showed.
However, among the financial firms that have incorporated ESG factors into their investment decisionmaking process, only 33.3 percent think they are skilled in analyzing ESG factors, while other firms said it is difficult or costly to gain enough information on ESG, the survey found.
A lack of quantitative information on ESG, difficulty in verifying the information and disclosure of superfluous information were the main challenges for the respondents, the survey said.
Eighty-six percent of respondents believe that government policies and regulations were the major drivers for financial firms to implement sustainable finance.
However, implementation would not accelerate unless senior management supports the policies and a company has enough professionals, the poll said.
According to the survey, 48.9 percent of respondents have established goals to boost their sustainable finance business, with some focusing on responsible investment and others concentrating on developing ESG-related products, such as ESG bonds or funds.
Ninety-five percent of securities and investment consulting companies expect sustainable investment to increase, compared with 93.9 percent of banks and 92.3 percent of insurers, the poll found.
Overall, more than 60 percent of respondents thought that boosting sustainable finance would help improve their financial performance, the survey showed.
“Sustainable finance is one of HSBC’s global development goals, and shows great potential in the local stock market,” HSBC Taiwan chief executive officer Adam Chen (陳志堅) said in a statement.
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) and the company’s former chairman, Mark Liu (劉德音), both received the Robert N. Noyce Award -- the semiconductor industry’s highest honor -- in San Jose, California, on Thursday (local time). Speaking at the award event, Liu, who retired last year, expressed gratitude to his wife, his dissertation advisor at the University of California, Berkeley, his supervisors at AT&T Bell Laboratories -- where he worked on optical fiber communication systems before joining TSMC, TSMC partners, and industry colleagues. Liu said that working alongside TSMC
TECHNOLOGY DAY: The Taiwanese firm is also setting up a joint venture with Alphabet Inc on robots and plans to establish a firm in Japan to produce Model A EVs Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday announced a collaboration with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to build next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and strengthen its local supply chain in the US to accelerate the deployment of advanced AI systems. Building such an infrastructure in the US is crucial for strengthening local supply chains and supporting the US in maintaining its leading position in the AI domain, Hon Hai said in a statement. Through the collaboration, OpenAI would share its insights into emerging hardware needs in the AI industry with Hon Hai to support the company’s design and development work, as well
RSS