Taiwan to form stock market for overseas firms

Taiwan plans to create a new stock market next year to attract overseas companies, the island's top financial regulator said.

The new board would have lower requirements than the island's main bourse and target startups abroad, Hu Sheng-cheng, chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, said at a year-end briefing in Taipei yesterday, without providing further details.

The new exchange will seek out small and medium companies in Southeast Asia, including those owned by Taiwanese, the Taipei-based Economic Daily News reported Dec. 11, citing Hu. Some Taiwan companies have built factories in Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, to reduce costs.

The minimum capital required for a company to become traded on the new board may be as low as NT$50 million, compared with NT$600 million for the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the newspaper said.

The commission also said yesterday it plans to set up a U.S. dollar-denominated market for commercial paper to give Taiwan companies a channel to raise funds.

In addition, two financially troubled companies, Chinfon Bank and Asia Trust and Investment Corp., risk being taken over by the regulator unless they provide a plan to improve or seek investors by Dec. 31, commission Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang said.

Taiwan's government on Aug. 10 took control of Bowa Bank, which has more liabilities than assets on its books, the regulator said earlier. The government-owned Central Depositary Insurance Corp. is slated to auction Bowa Bank on Jan. 31.