The newly appointed Financial Supervisory Commission chairman, Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉), said yesterday that he would endeavor to rebuild people's trust in the disputed agency and create a stable and competitive environment for the nation's financial industry.
"I feel honored [about the appointment] and the great responsibility ? I will try my best to restore people's confidence in the financial supervisory mechanism," he said.
His tenure will run through June 30, 2008.
The commission has been embroiled in controversy since it was established in July 2004. A series of policy flip-flops eroded confidence in its authority, as did the indictments of some of its high-ranking officials.
"The premier expects the commission to make well-thought-out policies, implement them efficiently and operate cleanly. These are the main guidelines for my duties during my chairmanship," Shih said.
He said that although he was not a financial industry veteran, he was not a layman either, adding that he would draw on his experience to help the financial sector compete fairly and prosper.
Shih will take up his new post next week.
The commission's top job has been vacant since Kong Jaw-sheng (
Kong has filed an appeal to regain his job.
The 51-year-old Shih holds a doctorate in economics from National Taiwan University. He was named to the commission on July 1. Once an Academia Sinica researcher with expertise in financial reform and telecommunications policy, Shih entered public service with a job on the Fair Trade Commission, where he worked from 1998 to 2001.
In his student days he was a pro-democracy activist and also helped organized a major demonstration to oppose the White Terror.
"My background has given me the strength to fight and resist [the kind of] lobbying and pressure [that I'll face] in the future," Shih said.
Some lawmakers expressed surprise over Shih's appointment, saying they had not had advance knowledge of the appointment and were not familiar with him.
"It is difficult to comment on his suitability now because I do not know him," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (
"We will closely supervise him and there will be no honeymoon period for him," Fai said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (
Tsai said he expected the commission to push for some much-needed cross-strait relaxation, starting with less controversial issues, such as an offshore bourse.
A foreign currency-denominated offshore stock exchange has been stuck on the drawing board because of the government's caps on investments in China.
Shih, however, threw cold water on the idea that he would push for more cross-strait opening, saying that cross-strait policy was not in the commission's bailiwick.
"The commission's independence means policy-making independent from politics, not excluding itself from the Cabinet and other [government] agencies," Shih said.
The commission's main task is to hammer out concrete measures to implement the financial reform consensus reached in the recent Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development, he said.
The commission will strengthen its financial supervisory functions by handing out just, timely and proportional punishments, he said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort