Will Taiwan open up further?
Taiwan's cabinet approved a plan allowing banks to invest in their Chinese peers through third- country subsidiaries, in a bid to make them more competitive.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung approved the proposal in a weekly cabinet meeting, the cabinet said in an e-mailed statement. Taiwanese banks may buy as much as 20 percent of their Chinese counterparts using third-country units, the statement said.
“It's a very good beginning of opening financial investment in China,” said Charles Chen, who helps manage the equivalent of $3.7 billion at JF Asset Management in Taipei. “Still, Taiwan's banks will need direct investments to really serve their clients there.”
Taiwan restricts direct investment in China, which considers the island part of its territory and has threatened to invade if formal independence is declared. Fubon Financial Holding is the only island bank currently qualified to buy into a Chinese rival through a third-country unit, according to Taiwan's financial regulator.
Rules were also relaxed on Taiwanese banks' offshore units, allowing them to handle accounts receivable transactions in China, so they can better serve mainland clients, the cabinet statement said. Companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Cathay Financial Holding have invested $150 billion in the mainland, the island's biggest export market.
A proposal is being studied to allow Taiwanese banks to directly invest as much as 20 percent in their Chinese counterparts, Susan Chang, vice chairwoman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, said.
Fubon Bank (Hong Kong), controlled by Taipei-based Fubon Financial, may buy a stake in China's Xiamen Bank, the Economic Daily News said in January. In 2004, Fubon Financial, Taiwan's second-largest financial company by market value, bought a controlling stake in International Bank of Asia in Hong Kong and renamed it Fubon Bank.
“We are so glad that the government relaxed the rules, and we hope to complete acquisition this year,” Fubon Financial President Victor Kung said, declining to confirm the target is Xiamen Bank.
Kung said there would be more consolidation among the island's lenders and Fubon Financial hoped to make acquisitions.
“We will actively join in mergers and acquisitions,” he said, declining to name any specific targets.
Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since 1949 when Mao Zedong's communists took control of the mainland.
How successfully will Taiwanese banks capitalize on this new opportunity?
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung approved the proposal in a weekly cabinet meeting, the cabinet said in an e-mailed statement. Taiwanese banks may buy as much as 20 percent of their Chinese counterparts using third-country units, the statement said.
“It's a very good beginning of opening financial investment in China,” said Charles Chen, who helps manage the equivalent of $3.7 billion at JF Asset Management in Taipei. “Still, Taiwan's banks will need direct investments to really serve their clients there.”
Taiwan restricts direct investment in China, which considers the island part of its territory and has threatened to invade if formal independence is declared. Fubon Financial Holding is the only island bank currently qualified to buy into a Chinese rival through a third-country unit, according to Taiwan's financial regulator.
Rules were also relaxed on Taiwanese banks' offshore units, allowing them to handle accounts receivable transactions in China, so they can better serve mainland clients, the cabinet statement said. Companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Cathay Financial Holding have invested $150 billion in the mainland, the island's biggest export market.
A proposal is being studied to allow Taiwanese banks to directly invest as much as 20 percent in their Chinese counterparts, Susan Chang, vice chairwoman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, said.
Fubon Bank (Hong Kong), controlled by Taipei-based Fubon Financial, may buy a stake in China's Xiamen Bank, the Economic Daily News said in January. In 2004, Fubon Financial, Taiwan's second-largest financial company by market value, bought a controlling stake in International Bank of Asia in Hong Kong and renamed it Fubon Bank.
“We are so glad that the government relaxed the rules, and we hope to complete acquisition this year,” Fubon Financial President Victor Kung said, declining to confirm the target is Xiamen Bank.
Kung said there would be more consolidation among the island's lenders and Fubon Financial hoped to make acquisitions.
“We will actively join in mergers and acquisitions,” he said, declining to name any specific targets.
Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since 1949 when Mao Zedong's communists took control of the mainland.
How successfully will Taiwanese banks capitalize on this new opportunity?
posted by Charltonmedia.com @ 5:46 PM
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