Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday appointed Kong Jaw-sheng (
"Professionalism, personal integrity, a global vision and little [political] burden is what qualifies Kong for the new post," the premier told reporters at a press conference called to announce Kong's appointment.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMESN
The administration hopes to take advantage of Kong's more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry and foreign investment community in getting the new regulatory body up and running, Yu said.
The new supervisory board will merge the Ministry of Finance's Bureau of Monetary Affairs, the Department of Insurance, the Securities and Futures Commission and the central bank's Bank Examination Department.
The new Cabinet-level agency will have 900 employees and act as an umbrella organization to centralize and oversee the nation's banking sector.
Kong, a 49-year-old banker specializing in financial planning and consulting, began to develop close ties with and to stump for presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (
In early 2001, Kong helped the government organize investment forums in Europe and Hong Kong, in which then-minister of finance Yen Ching-chang (
Kong's close relationship with the Chen administration, however, upset Beijing, which barred the Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG from participating in deals in China in 2001 and cost Kong his coveted job in April 2002.
Before the announcement of Kong's appointment, it was reported that some potential candidates -- such as Huang Yung-jen (黃永仁), chairman of E. Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控), and Ko Chen-en (柯承恩), dean of the management college at National Taiwan University -- had rejected the job.
At yesterday's press conference, Kong appeared to be very confident about his new post.
"My experience in the financial industry and global perspective is the main reason for my appointment,'' Kong said.
He added that "the new regulatory body is critical to the development of Taiwan's financial industry and corporate governance."
Pundits gave a thumbs-up to Kong's appointment.
"It takes more than political ties to do the job well," said Yang Tze-kiang (
"It takes courage, ambition and professionalism, in which Kong is over-qualified," Yang said.
The former minister praised Kong as an ideal and liberal-minded banker with market-oriented international vision and down-to-the-earth insight into the liberalization of the domestic capital market.
Yang added that when he had been vice finance minister, Kong had been one of his private advisers and had been behind many of his financial policies -- including the nurturing of domestic investment banking and venture-capitalist businesses as well as the adoption of a regulatory approach to open up the financial market.
As an old friend, Yang said that he benefited from Kong's insights when the two men used to sit next to each other during board meetings for the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp.
Bank of Taiwan (
"An enthusiastic banker who provides customers with the best financial services," Lo said.
He went on to say that Kong would be a "bold banker with guts, who exercises flexibility, which is exactly what the rigid local banking sector lacks."
Lo said he admired the marketing strategies Kong launched at conservative Taisugar and helped make many breakthroughs at the state-run enterprise.
He added that he hoped Kong would be able to utilize his creativity in his new post to create a new profit-making environment and help the financial sector.
Kong's expertise in managing foreign banks is expected to help the government attract foreign investors as well as aid local banks with their expansion plans, said Chen Po-chih (
Prior to going to work for CSFB, Kong in 1999 helped set up and then headed the Taiwan operations of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette Inc, which CSFB acquired in 2000.
He also helped set up the Taiwan unit of Lehman Brothers Holding Inc and acted as president from 1995 to 1999. Before then, Kong served as a senior executive at the Development Bank of Singapore from 1983 to 1987.
TRADE WAR: Tariffs should also apply to any goods that pass through the new Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, an adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump said A veteran adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump is proposing that the 60 percent tariffs that Trump vowed to impose on Chinese goods also apply to goods from any country that pass through a new port that Beijing has built in Peru. The duties should apply to goods from China or countries in South America that pass through the new deep-water port Chancay, a town 60km north of Lima, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the Trump transition team who served as senior director for the western hemisphere on the White House National Security Council in his first administration. “Any product going
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion
High above the sparkling surface of the Athens coastline, the cranes for building the 50-floor luxury tower centerpiece of Greece’s future “smart city” look out over the Saronic Gulf. At their feet, construction machinery stirs up dust. Its backers say the 8 billion euro (US$8.43 billion) project financed by private funds is a symbol of Greece’s renaissance after the years of financial stagnation that saw investors flee the country. However, critics see it more as a future “ghetto for the rich.” It is hard to imagine that 10km from the Acropolis, a new city “three times the size of Monaco”
STRUGGLING BUSINESS: South Korea’s biggest company and semiconductor manufacturer’s buyback fuels concerns that it could be missing out on the AI boom Samsung Electronics Co plans to buy back about 10 trillion won (US$7.2 billion) of its own stock over the next year, putting in motion one of the larger shareholder return programs in its history. South Korea’s biggest company would repurchase the stock in stages over the coming 12 months, it said in a regulatory filing on Friday. As a first step, it would buy back about 3 trillion won of paper starting today up until February next year, all of which it would cancel. The board would deliberate on how best to effect the remaining 7 trillion won of buybacks. The move
RSS