The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) plans to toughen penalties on securities companies that contravene the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), it said on Tuesday.
The maximum fine for securities companies that breach the act, due to issues such as poor internal controls or professional negligence, would be increased from NT$4.8 million (US$173,486) to NT$6 million, Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling (蔡麗玲) said.
Under draft amendments to act, anyone who acquires more than 5 percent of a listed company’s shares would need to report the purchase to securities regulators and make a public announcement, compared with 10 percent currently, Tsai said.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
“It is intended to give investors more real-time information when a company’s share structure changes drastically,” Tsai said. “The US, Japan and many countries have used 5 percent as the threshold [for reporting], and now we think it is time for Taiwan’s market to follow suit.”
If investors adjust their shareholding by more than 1 percent, they would also have to make an announcement, she said.
As of the end of last month, there were 3,266 shareholders who each held a stake in a public company of more than 5 percent but less than 10 percent, and they would be asked to make public announcements if the amendments to the act take effect, Tsai said.
The commission expects the amendments to be passed by the legislature by the end of this year, Tsai said.
Investors would be given a one-year grace period to make announcements, she added.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
RSS