Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co (上海浦東發展銀行), China's biggest publicly traded lender, said it's seeking access to Taiwan, aiming to capitalize on a surge in investment between the two nations' economies.
Pudong Development, which Monday denied a report it may sell a stake to Citigroup Inc, is in alliance talks with several foreign banks, the Shanghai-based lender said in a statement, without identifying its potential partners.
"With cross-strait economic exchanges becoming more frequent, we plan -- if conditions permit -- to set up an office in Taiwan," the bank said in a statement.
Economic links between China and Taiwan, which the mainland claims sovereignty over, are increasing even though the two don't have diplomatic relations. Taiwan companies have invested about US$100 billion in China, according to CLSA Ltd, and in November Taiwan said it would allow inward investment from Chinese firms.
Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) are among the Taiwan banks that say they want access to China's market of 1.3 billion people, though no licenses have yet been granted. Pudong Development is one of the first Chinese banks to say it wants access to Taiwan's recession-hit economy of 18.4 million people.
"This is more likely a politics-related move than a self-motivated one," said Zeng Shen, an analyst at China Communication Securities Co (
Pudong Development, which last month opened an office in Hong Kong, already owns one fifth of First Sino Bank of Shanghai, the first joint venture bank between Taiwan and mainland investors.
Aside from First Sino, Concord Bank, wholly owned by Taiwan's Concord Group (康和), is represented in China.
Regulators in Taiwan and China have held talks on allowing each other's banks to set up representative offices, the Business Herald newspaper reported Tuesday.
"We have received applications from several Taiwan banks," said Chen Jie, a spokeswoman for China's People's Bank of China (中國人民銀行). "But no final approval has been made yet." Pudong Development on Monday denied a newspaper report that it's in talks to sell a stake of up to 8 percent to Citigroup for as much as 2.7 billion yuan (US$327 million). Tuesday it said that it is seeking partners.
"To introduce foreign strategic investors is one of the bank's strategies as we try to become more globalized," Pudong Development said in the statement.
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS