A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS 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…
A proposed acquisition could be a turning point for Taiwan’s overbanked financial services industry. Last December, Fubon Financial Holdings, the second-largest financial services organization in Taiwan, announced that it was pursuing a hostile takeover of Jih Sun Financial Holdings through a public tender offer for at least 50% of the company’s shares. The offer is…
Last December, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced the easing of requirements for foreign finance professionals, part of the government’s plans to make Taiwan an Asia-Pacific financial hub. The work experience requirement for senior financial executives applying for the Employment Gold Card – a special work visa that incorporates an alien resident certificate, open work…
Most of the funding for this portion of Taiwan’s energy development is coming from international banks, with much of it guaranteed by foreign export credit agencies. Taiwan’s ambitious program to promote offshore wind power as a major energy source – installing over 700 turbines in the Taiwan Strait by 2025 – will require an estimated…
Visa Direct – the more secure, convenient and cost-effective way for international remittance With the rise of fintech, banking is no longer confined to a particular place but is something we can do from anywhere. As banking undergoes industry-wide transformation, financial institutions and technology companies are working together to find new solutions that can better…
More education is needed on the importance of investment and savings for old age. Taiwan will soon join the ranks of “super aged” societies, with one in five Taiwanese 65 years old or older by 2025. Among the factors regarded as contributing to Taiwan’s extremely low birth rate are stagnant wage levels, which have made…
Taiwan’s ambitious plans to develop offshore wind power spur a need for project financing. International banks have held a rather limited market share in Taiwan, but one area in which they have a potential competitive edge by virtue of their technical expertise in the financing of major projects. In recent years, such projects have…
As paradigms in the banking industry shift rapidly, the future of banking hedges on innovation, specialization, and mastery of the digital business landscape. In the past year, volatility in global and regional markets—from the plunge in oil prices to post-Brexit uncertainties—has made Taiwan’s banking industry keen to bring stability and growth to the financial liberalization…
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…
