President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday encouraged the government, the private sector and academia to work together to develop and internationalize Taiwan’s financial sector by cultivating a local talent pool.
Speaking at a launch ceremony for National Chengchi University’s (NCCU) College of Global Banking and Finance, Tsai said that sound economic growth had enabled Taiwan to have good credit ratings and report solid foreign exchange reserves, creating a good foundation for the country to develop international finance at a time when the financial industry is becoming more global.
On April 29, S&P Global Ratings raised its long-term issuer credit rating for Taiwan from “AA” to “AA+,” saying that the outlook for the country’s economic performance was favorable based on robust demand for its electronics exports.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
At the end of last month, Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell by US$3.71 billion from a month earlier to US$545.06 billion, because of intervention by the central bank to prevent the New Taiwan dollar from losing value.
However, the country was ranked the fourth-largest forex reserve holder in the world, up one place from a month earlier.
In the post-COVID-19 era, Taiwan should cultivate a pool of banking talent to enable the local financial industry to speed up its efforts to meet international standards with assistance from NCCU’s College of Global Banking and Finance, Tsai said.
Taiwan should aim to become a finance hub for enterprises in Asia, as well as a center for wealth management for people with significant assets in the region, she said.
High-ranking government officials such as Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮), central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) and Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Chiu Shu-chen (邱淑貞) also attended the NCCU ceremony, as did representatives from 27 financial institutions.
Tsai said that the presence of these attendees demonstrated Taiwan’s collective effort at becoming a regional financial hub, with the public and private sectors, and academia willing to pour resources into the college.
The new college is the second international finance department in Taiwan to be opened, the Presidential Office said in a statement.
The president last month attended the inauguration of the School of International Finance at National Sun Yat-sen University.
The NCCU college, which is bilingual, is to focus on four areas — international asset management; financial innovations; environment, social and governance; and inclusive financing and legal compliance — and is expected to create a new higher education teaching model by integrating theory with practice, Tsai said.
Inclusive financing is aimed at promoting the availability of banking services to the broadest segment of society at affordable terms.
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