Tightened rules on removing executives at publicly traded companies are to come into effect next month, barring board directors from proposing such dismissals through extraordinary motions, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday.
Companies contravening the new rules are to face fines from NT$240,000 to NT$4.8 million (US$8,019 to US$160,385), the commission said, adding that the removal of chairpersons under illegal circumstances would not be recognized by the Minister of Economic Affairs (MOEA).
Currently, board directors can make notification of such motions seven days before a board meeting.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
As removing or electing a company’s head has significant effects, such a motion should not arrive without enough time to be discussed by board members, the Securities and Futures Bureau told an online news conference.
The tightened rules also apply to extraordinary board meetings, and the commission is to have the authority to specify under what conditions board directors can convene such meetings, the bureau said.
“Several companies suggested clearer conditions for holding extraordinary board meetings, as current regulations only apply to meetings in the case of emergency,” bureau Chief Secretary Kao Ching-ping (高晶萍) said.
However, defining what scenarios can be viewed as emergencies is complicated, Kao added.
The commission is planning to provide sample scenarios to companies as references, such as an emergency situation arriving when shareholders fail to elect a new head at an annual general meeting, she said.
In November last year, Solar Applied Materials Technology Corp (光洋科) reshuffled management, with Ma Chien-yung (馬堅勇) being removed as chairman by activist directors through an extraordinary motion.
The removal was dismissed by the MOEA in December, saying the case was not an emergency.
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
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS