The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) yesterday said it would relax the qualification criteria for investors seeking to invest on the Taiwan Innovation Board (TIB) to expand the fund pool, adding that the move would heed calls by companies seeking to list their shares on the board.
The new criteria would allow investments from people and institutions with a financial abilities of more than NT$5 million (US$166,990), compared with a net worth of more than NT$10 million that was previously required.
Estimating an investor’s net worth — the value of their assets minus their liabilities — can be complex and time-consuming, so the bourse is to use their financial ability as the main gauge instead, TWSE spokeswoman Rebecca Chen (陳麗卿) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
It is easier to decide whether an investor is financially trustworthy based on their bank deposits, the market value of their stock portfolio and property, Chen said.
Local securities companies are familiar with verifying people’s financial ability, she added.
“Our previous qualifications for investors in the TIB were stricter than those for investors in stock boards targeting start-ups in other markets. So even though we lowered the requirements, they are not loose,” Chen said.
The TWSE made the change to satisfy corporate needs, as many firms that seek a TIB listing told the exchange that they hope more investors could trade TIB shares, Chen said.
However, the exchange did not estimate how many investors would start trading TIB shares after the revision.
Institutional investors with more than two years of experience in stock trading would also be allowed to trade TIB shares, the TWSE said, adding that it previously had higher criteria to determine whether they are professional traders.
About 90,000 investors were eligible for TIB trading as of the end of March, up 34 percent from the end of last year, and the number is expected to continue growing this year, Chen said.
Although three companies filed applications to debut their shares on the TIB, only the application by PlayNitride Inc (錼創科技) was approved, Chen said, adding that the chip-on-carrier supplier’s share debut is pending.
The bourse expects to receive 10 applications this year, TWSE data showed.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
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
RSS