This is Part 3 of the Special Report on Public Safety: Links to Part 1, Part2, Part 4, Part 5 From as far afield as Africa, fraud rings made up of criminals from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are fleecing victims. On a balmy night in August 2014, this reporter hailed a cab in downtown Taipei. As…
The ascendant Southeast Asian region of 600 million offers Taiwanese banks better prospects than mercurial China The Taiwanese banking sector booked a net loss in 2015 for the first time in nine years as a feeble domestic economy and China’s slowing growth battered balance sheets. Earnings fell 0.2% year-on-year to NT$319.6 billion (US$9.75 billion),…
Once saddled with a huge volume of non-performing loans, the farming credit system has strengthened under the supervision of a state-backed agricultural bank. Taiwan’s agricultural finance system has evolved considerably since the early 2000s when it was burdened with a large volume of non-performing loans (NPLs). The dire state of Taiwan’s rural finances at that…
In January, outgoing Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) chairman William Ming-chung Tseng (now a member of the Legislative Yuan) highlighted the slow pace of consolidation in the banking sector as a major regret of his FSC tenure. When he was appointed head of the FSC in 2014, Tseng called for consolidation in a bid to streamline…
Can Taiwan leverage its hardware manufacturing acumen to tap opportunities in the ascendant big-data analytics market? The digitization of information since the advent of the personal computer has led to a massive accumulation of data, and that data buildup has accelerated with the development of high-speed Internet connections and connected mobile devices. Unlike data found…
The flat-panel display sector is reeling from the effects of oversupply and anemic demand for consumer electronics. Taiwanese manufacturers of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels had a rough year in 2015 as their profits were pinched by a supply glut and falling consumer electronics sales. The net profit of AU Optronics (AUO), the world’s No….
Allowing Chinese investment in the sector could give Beijing immoderate influence over Taiwan’s most prized industry, yet shunning it could undermine competitiveness. The semiconductor sector is one of the last areas of the global consumer electronics supply chain where Taiwanese firms retain an edge over their Chinese competitors. Taiwanese integrated circuit (IC) makers have…
In the face of persistent pressure from Beijing, foreign aid has helped Taipei bolster formal relations with countries in need. Can that strategy endure? Taiwan has long provided technical and financial assistance to other countries as a means of boosting its limited international profile. Given the relentless efforts of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)…
Ten strategic sectors have been identified as having the best potential for selling system integration solutions to overseas markets. The Taiwanese economy limped along in 2015 as an export slump pushed GDP growth down to an estimated 1%. That anemic performance was Taiwan’s worst since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, when the economy went…
Three Taipei restaurants to bear in mind when hankering for the food of northern China. Photos by Matthew Fulco Over the years it has become harder to find authentic northern Chinese restaurants in Taipei. Restaurant founders who arrived in Taiwan with Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang government more than 65 years ago have nearly all…
