The management of the Public Service Pension Fund is not transparent and its risk control is lax, according to an investigation by the Control Yuan, which is in charge of monitoring the behavior of government officials.
In a report on the investigation presented on Friday, the Control Yuan said the fund, which manages the pensions of nearly 700,000 military personnel, civil servants and teachers, lost more than NT$86 billion (US$2.73 billion) because of the global financial crisis in 2008.
The Control Yuan launched an investigation after public misgivings over the viability of the fund’s investments.
Control Yuan member Chao Chang-ping (趙昌平) said that between 1999 and 2008, the fund’s portfolio had an average rate of return of minus 4.58 percent and lost more than NT$48.7 billion (US$1.54 billion).
The rate was lower than that of Taiwan’s weighted stock index average return of negative 0.92 percent and also lower than the average rate of return of 2.5 percent had the money been kept in a time deposit over the same period, Chao said.
He said the fund management board was trying to rationalize its long-term poor performance by citing the global financial crisis, which Chao instead described as a “failure to fulfill its duty of professional investment and management.”
The public also often wonders whether the government is “propping up stock prices or dumping stocks” on the stock market when the fund buys or sells stocks.
Chao said that “propping up sagging stocks” was not the mission of the pension fund.
If the fund can formulate a “take-profit point” or “stop-loss point” quantitative assessment, where specific targets for cutting losses or locking in profits are set, it would help dispel speculation about improper intervention by the fund management board, Chao said.
Meanwhile, Tsai Feng-ching (蔡豐清), deputy chairman of the fund management board, said regulations of the fund have followed set procedures and that the rate of return of 19.5 percent last year was the highest ever.
He also dismissed allegations that the fund was operated privately without supervision in a “secret room,” saying it was just an ordinary room set up to trade stocks located on the third floor of the Examination Yuan building.
The Control Yuan has questioned two former chairmen of the fund management board — Chu Wu-shien (朱武獻) and Chang Che-shen (張哲琛).
The report said Chu had intervened too much in the fund’s investments and set up certain professional equipment on his office desk, which the report described as improper.
Chu, a former head of the Ministry of Civil Service, said he set up the equipment because he was in charge of management of the fund and that he needed to pay attention to it from time to time.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS