The Ministry of Finance announced yesterday the appointment of Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) as chairwoman of the state-run Taiwan Financial Holding Co (臺灣金控) and Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行).
With a master’s degree in economics, Chang, 60, will replace Tsai Jer-shyong (蔡哲雄) as head of the two 100 percent government-owned financial institutions, starting on Monday, the ministry said.
The government launched Taiwan Financial Holding on Jan. 2 after combining the Bank of Taiwan, the Land Bank of Taiwan (士地銀行), the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China (中國輸出入銀行), the BankTaiwan Life Insurance Co (臺銀人壽保險) and a Bank of Taiwan brokerage unit to create the nation’s largest financial service provider by assets.
Last month, the government said it would maintain the independence of the Export-Import Bank and prevent it joining the holding company. Taiwan Financial is Asia’s 18th largest bank and the 91st biggest in the world, ministry figures showed.
The ministry said yesterday that Peter Lo (羅澤成), the Bank of Taiwan’s incumbent president, would retain his post and double as acting president of Taiwan Financial. Lo, 61, has a master’s degree in economics from Chinese Culture University. His appointment will also take effect on Monday, the ministry said.
Land Bank of Taiwan (士地銀行) chairman Wu Fan-chi (吳繁治) will leave his post as acting president at Taiwan Financial, the ministry said.
The ministry has approved the appointment of a central bank official to head the government-owned Central Deposit Insurance Corp (CDIC, 中央存保).
Fred Chen (陳上程), director general of the central bank’s department of financial inspection, has been appointed CDIC chairman, the ministry said.
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
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