New FSC Chairperson Promotes Three Major Policies and Loosens Eight Financial Measures
Within a month of assuming office on May 20, the new Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), Huang Tien-Ming, launched a series of reform measures. In a recent joint media interview, he emphasized that establishing a financial market that balances “safety” and “development” will be the focus of his administration. Huang revealed that in order to achieve this goal, he will promote three waves of important policies and loosen eight financial measures, covering all three sectors of the financial industry.
The three major focuses of the FSC’s future administration are as follows:
1. Establishing a regulatory adjustment platform led by experts and scholars to make FSC regulations more grounded.
The first initiative to be launched is the “Action Innovation Regulatory Adjustment Plan.” Prior to taking office, Huang consulted with associations and industry players multiple times, collecting 124 suggestions, of which 38 were confirmed to be immediately feasible and will be promptly addressed.
Huang plans to establish a “Financial Development and Innovation Regulatory Adjustment Proposal Platform” that covers banking, insurance, securities and futures, and financial technology. However, unlike in the past, this platform will be led by scholars and experts who will proactively identify issues from the market and set up regulatory review groups, shifting regulatory adjustments from passive to active. Huang emphasizes the need for diverse voices in the financial market, so each group will be led by scholars with different areas of expertise to ensure professional division of labor and collaboration in each field.
In addition, the FSC will loosen eight policy measures in hopes of enhancing the flexibility and competitiveness of the financial market, which include:
– Opening and simplifying the offline operations and procedures of pure online banks.
– Opening micro Taiwan Stock Index Futures products.
– Insurance companies that have invested in public construction projects will be exempted from adjusting to the new risk coefficient of 1.28%.
– Simplifying the process of issuing structured bonds by banks.
– Relaxing the number of appointed financial institutions for overseas funds that do not have the characteristics of mutual funds.
– Allowing securities firms to establish simplified branch offices.
– Amending the foreign exchange price reserve system to stabilize hedging costs for life insurance companies.
– Continuing to promote trust evaluation incentives.
2. Promoting the concept of a “lightweight sandbox”
Huang pointed out that innovation and development in the financial market need to be based on safety, and he proposed an accelerated plan for financial technology innovation.
After the successful implementation of the Regulatory Sandbox in Taiwan, there is a need to further promote regulatory amendments to transform the results of the experiments into financial technology services. However, the process of amending and legislating laws is often complex and lengthy. Therefore, Huang proposed the concept of a “lightweight sandbox,” aiming to expand the scope of trials and strengthen cooperation between the finance and technology industries through self-regulatory norms and review guidelines.
Huang stated that the pursuit of investment opportunities for life insurance companies domestically is also an important aspect. The FSC has already convened meetings with the six major life insurance companies to discuss how to overcome the limitations of existing public construction projects and has proposed specific solutions. Huang revealed that they will first find “experimental cases,” and after their success, they will convince other ministries to promote these measures. This approach not only reduces risks but also ensures the effectiveness and feasibility of policies.
3. Building an Asian asset management center
Huang’s third important policy is to establish an Asian asset management center.
In fact, all previous FSC chairpersons have had this expectation, but it has never been realized. Huang hopes to break this curse and, through 20 years of preparation and brewing, turn Taiwan into one of the Asian asset management centers. He pointed out that Taiwan has abundant private wealth and numerous successful overseas Taiwanese businessmen, which are advantages for Taiwan. By fully utilizing these advantages, Taiwan can establish a unique asset management center to attract international capital and talent.
Huang believes that other countries’ experiences are worth learning from, such as Japan’s establishment of “special zones” to promote the construction of asset management centers through the division of labor among different cities. Taiwan can learn from these successful experiences while leveraging its own advantages, such as having a sound industrial foundation and excellent financial technology talent. Huang hopes that in the future, Taiwan will become an important choice for investments in areas such as green energy startups, making Taiwan’s asset management center competitive.
Huang’s series of reform measures after taking office demonstrate his determination and courage to promote innovation and development in the financial market. By promoting the Action Innovation Regulatory Adjustment Plan, accelerating financial technology innovation, and building an Asian asset management center, it can be seen that Huang aims to achieve comprehensive development of Taiwan’s financial market while ensuring its safety.
