Business and Finance

Taiwan removed from EU noncooperative tax watchlist

Taiwan News    
Date: 2019/03/17 
By:  Agencies

TAIPEI (Taiwan Today) — Taiwan was removed from the EU’s noncooperative jurisdiction for tax purposes watchlist March 12, reflecting the effectiveness of government measures in bringing local rules and regulations in line with global standards.

According to the Ministry of Finance, Taiwan was among 92 countries and territories included in a review launched two years ago by the EU Code of Conduct Group. This aimed to enhance cooperation on fair taxation, fighting tax avoidance, and improving good governance and transparency.

A total of 17 countries and territories were identified as having taken no meaningful action to address deficiencies in respective tax systems. Although Taiwan was not included in the group, it did make the watchlist.

The EU advised the government to remedy the situation by continuing to work to abolish or amend income tax incentive provisions; exchange relevant information; and implement measures to halt base erosion and profit shifting.    [FULL  STORY]

Fuel prices to rise this week

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/17
By Chiu Po-sheng and Emerson Lim

Taipei, March 17 (CNA) As international oil prices continue to go upward, Taiwan’s two

CNA file photo

major oil companies will hike the prices at their gas stations around the nation.

State-run oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan announced in a statement that effective midnight March 17, the adjusted price of 92 octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$26.80 (US$0.86) per liter; 95 octane unleaded will be raised to NT$28.30 per liter; and 98 octane unleaded will cost NT$30.30 per liter, according to CPC.

The cost of super diesel will be NT$25.90 per liter.

The average crude price computed on the 7D3B formula, which is made up of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude, was at US$66.94 per barrel this week, up US$1.58 from last week’s US$65.36, according to the CPC.    [FULL  STORY]

Analysts predict market corrections

EDUCATED GUESS: A fund manager said data released by the US and China had raised concerns and might result in local equities being restricted to narrow-range trading

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 18, 2019
By: Chen Cheng-hui  /  Staff reporter

Equity investors are advised to pick stocks that have stable profitability and growth potential, or switch to defensive stocks as the local bourse appears to be about to encounter technical corrections after a strong rebound over the past few weeks, analysts said.

“The main bourse has rebounded recently along with the climb in US equities, with the TAIEX reaching 10,439.24 points on Friday to hit the highest level this year, in part because of investor optimism toward the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy and the US-China trade talks,” Jih Sun Securities Investment Trust Co (日盛投信) fund manager Chang Ya-wei (張亞瑋) said in a note on Friday.

However, local equities might be confined to narrow-range trading in the near future, because of the market’s worries over recent economic data released by the US and China, which pointed to a potential downside risk to the business climate, he said.

The year-to-date upturn in stocks might also lead some investors to lock in profits for the time being, pushing the market toward consolidation, he added.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s bilingual IR Platform kicks off to better serve global investors

Under the country’s latest corporate governance guideline, bilingual financial report and shareholders meeting agenda will be mandated
 
Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/16 
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — To improve corporate governance and investor relations, Taiwan’s financial authorities are demanding that listed companies publish English-language financial reports, annual reports, and shareholders meeting agendas, while a bilingual investor relations platform was recently kicked off to complement the efforts.

The new investor relations platform (IR Platform) was built by the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corporation (TDCC). A launching ceremony was held on Friday, March 15, followed by an international forum which features an emerging but critical practice used by investors to evaluate corporate behavior and to determine the future financial performance of companies – ESG.

The ESG Conference, hosted by the TDCC, reviewed the demands, challenges and opportunities of ESG implementation. ESG stands for a set of environmental, social and governance criteria as a special evaluation model.

TDCC Chairman Sherman Lin said at the ceremony that the company continues to expand its electronic voting ecosystem since its debut in 2009 through an array of innovations including the launch of stock vote for shareholders meeting, e-passbook and its mobile app, Straight Through Processing (STP) for cross-border voting, and several upgrades to the e-passbook app with the addition of features such as notification and cloud backup, with an aim to facilitate the communications between the listed companies and foreign/Taiwanese or institutional/retail investors, enhance market transparency, as well as Taiwan’s competitiveness in the world’s capital market.    [FULL  STORY]

Overtime hours down for 3rd straight month in January

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/16
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang 

Taipei, March 16 (CNA) At a time when the pace of local economic growth has slowed, the number of overtime hours fell for the third consecutive month in January, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

Data compiled by the DGBAS shows that the number of overtime hours stood at 7.6 hours in January, down 6.17 percent from a year earlier. The January figure was also down 2.56 percent from a month earlier.

The local manufacturing sector saw the number of overtime hours falling for the fourth straight month in January, the DGBAS said.

In addition, the average overtime pay in January fell 1.18 percent from a year earlier to NT$1,752 (US$56.70), the DGBAS said.    [FULL  STORY]

TAIEX rides out resistance to top 10,400

LONG VIEW: An analyst said that TSMC’s gains were a sign of foreign institutional investors boosting the index on the spot market to profit with long position futures

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 17, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA and AFP

Local shares on Friday moved higher to overcome stiff technical resistance ahead of 10,400 points as the bellwether electronics sector continued to steam ahead, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), dealers said.

The old economy sector also attracted buying as bargain hunters rushed to pick up stocks in the sector, which has lagged behind the high-tech sector, as well as the broader market, for some time, dealers added.

The TAIEX on Friday closed up 90.59 points, or 0.88 percent, at the day’s high of 10,439.24, after rebounding from a low of 10,370, on turnover of NT$152.996 billion (US$4.95 billion).

That was a 1.9 percent gain from a close of 10,241.75 on March 8.    [FULL  STORY]

Reverse mortgages becoming more popular, FSC says

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 16, 2019 
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

A reverse mortgage program for older homeowners is becoming more popular in Taiwan, as the number of applications and lending amounts continue to grow, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Thursday.

Reverse mortgages allow older homeowners to borrow money against the value of their home without having to move out, with qualified applicants needing to be older than 60, according to most banks’ regulations.

The number of applications to 13 local banks reached 3,186 as of the end of last month, a 38 percent increase from 2,309 a year earlier, commission data showed.

The amount of lending also grew from NT$12.5 billion (US$404.69 million) a year earlier to NT$17.7 billion as of the end of last month, the data showed.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s Chiayi County tackles overpopulation of African sacred ibises

A private firm set up nets and removed eggs from a nesting area

Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/15 
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

New aerial photos show the African sacred ibis has almost disappeared from the nesting area in Chiayi County. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A nesting area of the African sacred ibises has been removed in Chiayi County after fears it would affect the native bird population, reports said Friday.

Earlier this month, aerial photos revealed that as many as 2,000 of the birds were nesting in the southern county’s Dongshi District, posing a threat to local birds.

The Forestry Bureau asked a private contractor to start a campaign against the ibises by setting up nets and removing the eggs from the area, the Central News Agency reported.

Recent estimates put the total sacred ibis population in Taiwan at up to 10,000, raising fears that they will compete with local species such as little egrets and cattle egrets for space and resources. The African sacred ibis has been known to eat the eggs and even the young of other birds.    [FULL  STORY]

HTC swings to profit in 2018 after disposing assets in Q1

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/15
By: Jiang Ming-yan and Frances Huang 

Taipei, March 15 (CNA) Taiwan-based smartphone brand HTC Corp. posted a net profit in 2018 after it disposed of its smartphone ODM assets to Google in the first quarter of that year to boost its bottom line, according the results released on Friday.

In a statement, HTC said it registered NT$12 billion (US$388 million) in net profit in 2018, compared with a net loss of NT$16.91 billion in 2017, stopping a three-year losing streak. Its earnings per share for 2018 stood at NT$14.72, compared with NT$20.58 in loss per share in the previous year.

The 2018 net profit was achieved even though HTC’s consolidated sales fell to NT$23.74 billion, down 61.78 percent from the previous year, the seventh consecutive year of decline amid escalating competition in the global smartphone market’s high-end and mid-range segments.

While HTC has entered the global virtual reality market by unveiling its first VR headset — the HTC Vice — in 2015 and its follow-up models subsequently, such as the HTC Focus, such efforts have failed to boost its sales and bottom line.    [FULL  STORY]

Central bank likely to extend monetary policy: ANZ

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES: The US and China’s trade spat and plateauing smartphone sales pose challenges to Taiwan’s trade and growth outlook, the banking group said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 16, 2019
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

A subdued growth outlook, muted inflation and weak external demand are likely to prompt the central bank to extend its accommodative monetary policy and keep the rediscount rate unchanged at 1.375 percent next week, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) said yesterday.

The board of the nation’s top monetary policymaker is due to meet on Thursday to review policy rates. The central bank has stayed put for the past 10 quarters, citing negative output gaps and mild inflation.

The US-China trade conflict and the downside risks it poses to the Taiwanese economy would keep local policymakers concerned, ANZ said in a note.

“We expect the policy rate to hold steady through this year, barring an unexpected hawkish outlook by the US Federal Reserve or a sharp jump in domestic inflation,” ANZ said.    [FULL  STORY]