Taiwan would liberalize banking and investment rules to establish itself as a regional financial hub, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Taiwan Capital Market Forum in Taipei yesterday.
Recent world events could be an opening for Taiwan to become an international center for business investments and financial management, Tsai said at the forum, which was organized by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister publication of the Taipei Times).
“We’re facing unknowns in the world right now, including the continuing impact of US-China trade tensions and the reorganization of the global supply chain after COVID-19,” Tsai said. “These bring new challenges and opportunities.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Tsai said that Taiwan has two major advantages.
“First, our transparent laws and efficient courts are appealing to international businesses. Second, our comprehensive financial institutions,” she said.
In addition, dividend yields are high in Taiwan, transactions are stable and transparent, and compared with surrounding countries, the liquidity of Taiwan’s capital markets is high, Tsai said.
The ratio of foreign investors holding Taiwanese equities is at a historic high, at 41.2 percent as of the end of last year, Tsai said.
There are 1,717 publicly traded companies in Taiwan with a combined value NT$39.84 trillion (US$1.35 trillion), up 106 percent and 331 percent respectively from 2000, she said.
“While the world’s stock markets are all affected by COVID-19, Taiwan’s market hit a 30-year high. It is clear to see we are increasingly favored by foreign investors,” she said.
However, market liberalization would be the key to attract banks and other investment institutions to set up shop in Taiwan amid a government goal to make the nation Asia’s top destination for business financing, Tsai said.
“We are going to make Taiwan the No. 1 center in Asia for capital movement. In the future, we are going to relax rules for international finance institutions to establish offshore banking units [OBU] in Taiwan and make it more convenient to use foreign currencies. With more OBUs in Taiwan, we will be able to strengthen manufacturing development with all that capital,” she said.
“Secondly, we also wish to establish ourselves as a wealth management center,” Tsai said. “This means loosening rules and providing more diversified financial products and services. We can expand the scale of wealth management businesses, and attract more international institutions and capital to Taiwan.”
Tsai said that some businesses have been unable to go public as planned due to profit being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re working with those businesses proactively, loosening requirements and helping them obtain loans to get back on their feet,” she said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told the forum that Taiwan has taken advantage of the US-China trade dispute by encouraging investment.
“There has been more than NT$1 trillion in investment in Taiwan since last year’s rise in US-China trade tensions,” Su said. “According to last month’s international assessments, Taiwan is the safest investment environment in Asia, and third in the world, after Switzerland and Norway."
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,