The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has yet to approve Taishin Financial Holding Co’s (台新金控) bid for Prudential Life Insurance Co of Taiwan (保德信人壽), although the Fair Trade Commission approved the planned takeover in November last year.
The commission last week said that it needs more information from Taishin Financial, which filed its takeover application on Jan. 8, regarding its financial resources and investment plans.
Taishin Financial in August last year announced that it aims to acquire the life insurer for NT$5.5 billion to NT$8.5 billion (US$193.74 million to US$299.42 million), and that it would take a short-term loan and consider selling 300 million shares of state-run Chang Hwa Bank (CHB, 彰化銀行) to fund the deal.
Photo: CNA
“We are assessing whether Taishin Financial’s plan would affect its financial stability,” Banking Bureau Director-General Sherri Chuang (莊琇媛) said on Thursday.
The commission has not received all required information from Taishin Financial, Chuang added.
“We would like to know from Taishin Financial whether Prudential Life needs a capital injection to comply with stricter regulations on adequacy or solvency,” as stipulated in the International Financial Reporting Standards 17, which are to take effect in 2025, and the new Insurance Capital Standard, which is to take effect a year later, Insurance Bureau Director-General Shih Chiung-hwa (施瓊華) said.
“We want to know if Taishin Financial has enough capital to address the requirements,” Shih said.
As for Taishin Financial’s plan to sell CHB shares, it needs to present a clear and workable schedule, she added.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
SUBSIDIES: The nominee for commerce secretary indicated the Trump administration wants to put its stamp on the plan, but not unravel it entirely US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of a US$52 billion semiconductor subsidy program declined to give it unqualified support, raising questions about the disbursement of funds to companies like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). “I can’t say that I can honor something I haven’t read,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said of the binding CHIPS and Science Act awards in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “To the extent monies have been disbursed, I would commit to rigorously enforcing documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get
RSS