FSC Approves Major Insurance M&A Deal The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on May 31 provided its conditional approval of Taishin Financial Holdings’ acquisition of Prudential Life Insurance. The FSC’s first condition is that Taishin make a statement committing to protect employee rights, guarantee long-term operations, and stabilize the shareholder structure of the merged entity. Secondly,…
Taiwanese Outlook Positive Despite Pandemic The COVID-19 situation in Taiwan continues to be severe, with the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reporting between 250-400 new cases per day, as well as a continuing backlog of cases due to the use of PCR testing, and the specter of a Level 4 lockdown looms. Yet the island’s…
A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS FSC suspends shareholders’ meetings Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced on May 20 that the shareholders’ meetings of 1,931 public companies – including the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) – will be suspended from May 24 to June…
Taiwan acacia is traditionally used as firewood, but Taiwan’s king of carton packaging, Caho Chen, and a team of innovative young people have developed methods to turn this neglected endemic hardwood into pricey bathtubs, customized guitars, and novel whiskey barrels. How did they transform this once-cheap commodity into a sought-after luxury material? By Kuo-chen Lu…
A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS Taiwan’s COVID-19 situation has quickly become more serious in recent days. Following a cluster infection in late April connected to China Airlines flight crew, local cases began increasing significantly for several days in succession, mostly in the north…
A growing emphasis on social and environmental responsibility among major U.S. corporations has begun influencing the practices and operations of their Taiwanese supply chain partners as well. Last summer, President Tsai Ing-wen announced that starting from the first day of 2021, Taiwan would allow the importation of U.S. pork containing trace amounts of ractopamine. Some…
A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS New measures seek to combat China’s talent poaching China has been targeting Taiwanese semiconductor talent in an effort to fuel its domestic chipmaking capabilities. In response, the Executive Yuan in April formed a task force to establish measures…
A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS TSMC raises capital expenditures to increase capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s leading contract manufacturer, said at a investor conference on April 15 that it would again raise its capital expenditures for 2021 to NT$30 billion,…
A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS Property tax rates revised to curb speculation The Legislative Yuan on April 9 passed the third and final reading of amendments to the Income Tax Act that aim to revise property tax rates. The amended law will take…
A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS Fubon acquires majority stake in Jih Sun Fubon Financial Holding Co. announced on March 23 that it had successfully completed the public tender to acquire a 53.84% stake in Jih Sun Financial Holding, making it the largest shareholder…
