Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) yesterday announced major leadership changes at its subsidiaries as part of plans to improve governance by separating ownership from management.
Group chairman Tsai Hong-tu (蔡宏圖) has vacated the chairmanship of Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the company’s flagship unit, with the post to be filled by Huang Diao-kuei (黃調貴), who had served as vice chairman at the nation’s largest insurer, Cathay Financial said after its shareholders’ meeting.
Cathay Financial also promoted new president and vice presidents from within its ranks of senior managers, while Cathay Century Insurance Co (國泰產險) also announced new chairman and president appointments.
Last year at a shareholders’ meeting Tsai said that Cathay Financial’s founding Tsai family would take a secondary role in managing day-to-day operations, which would be the responsibility of a management team of industry experts.
Tsai added that his children would not chair Cathay Financial’s subsidiaries.
Cathay Financial yesterday said that earnings per share performance this year could exceed last year’s NT$3.79 amid diminished concerns about foreign exchange losses from an appreciating New Taiwan dollar.
Separately, Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) shareholders yesterday approved plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2 per share.
At the company’s annual general meeting, shareholders also agreed to a proposal to expand the number of independent director seats from four to six to help improve corporate governance.
Including three board seats occupied by Taipei City Government appointees, the nine outside directors now have majority representation on the company’s 15-seat board, Fubon Financial said.
Meanwhile, Shin Kong Financial Holding Co’s (新光金控) general meeting proceeded smoothly, ending rumors of a proxy fight between majority owners dissatisfied with the company’s earnings slump.
Shin Kong Financial chairman Eugene Wu (吳東進) and allies received the bulk of the ballots in a board of directors election, with newly appointed president Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠) also securing a seat.
SELL-OFF: Investors expect tariff-driven volatility as the local boarse reopens today, while analysts say government support and solid fundamentals would steady sentiment Local investors are bracing for a sharp market downturn today as the nation’s financial markets resume trading following a two-day closure for national holidays before the weekend, with sentiment rattled by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement. Trump’s unveiling of new “reciprocal tariffs” on Wednesday triggered a sell-off in global markets, with the FTSE Taiwan Index Futures — a benchmark for Taiwanese equities traded in Singapore — tumbling 9.2 percent over the past two sessions. Meanwhile, the American depositary receipts (ADRs) of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the TAIEX, plunged 13.8 percent in
A wave of stop-loss selling and panic selling hit Taiwan's stock market at its opening today, with the weighted index plunging 2,086 points — a drop of more than 9.7 percent — marking the largest intraday point and percentage loss on record. The index bottomed out at 19,212.02, while futures were locked limit-down, with more than 1,000 stocks hitting their daily drop limit. Three heavyweight stocks — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn, 鴻海精密) and MediaTek (聯發科) — hit their limit-down prices as soon as the market opened, falling to NT$848 (US$25.54), NT$138.5 and NT$1,295 respectively. TSMC's
TARIFFS: The global ‘panic atmosphere remains strong,’ and foreign investors have continued to sell their holdings since the start of the year, the Ministry of Finance said The government yesterday authorized the activation of its NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) National Stabilization Fund (NSF) to prop up the local stock market after two days of sharp falls in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s new import tariffs. The Ministry of Finance said in a statement after the market close that the steering committee of the fund had been given the go-ahead to intervene in the market to bolster Taiwanese shares in a time of crisis. The fund has been authorized to use its assets “to carry out market stabilization tasks as appropriate to maintain the stability of Taiwan’s
STEEP DECLINE: Yesterday’s drop was the third-steepest in its history, the steepest being Monday’s drop in the wake of the tariff announcement on Wednesday last week Taiwanese stocks continued their heavy sell-off yesterday, as concerns over US tariffs and unwinding of leveraged bets weighed on the market. The benchmark TAIEX plunged 1,068.19 points, or 5.79 percent, to 17,391.76, notching the biggest drop among Asian peers as it hit a 15-month low. The decline came even after the government on late Tuesday authorized the NT$500 billion (US$15.2 billion) National Stabilization Fund (國安基金) to step in to buoy the market amid investors’ worries over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. Yesterday’s decline was the third-steepest in its history, trailing only the declines of 2,065.87 points on Monday and