Business and Finance

New stock name rules to become effective on June 27

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/18
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) New rules governing the abbreviations of local stock names are scheduled 201606180020t0001to take effect on June 27, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).

The TWSE, which operates Taiwan’s main stock market, said the new rules will expand companies’ stock abbreviation to 16 digital bits from the current six, which represent only three Chinese characters or six English letters at most.

The exchange is adopting longer abbreviations to provide more information to investors about the stocks, the TWSE said.

Because the numerical stock codes for each stock will remain unchanged, however, the new stock abbreviation rules will not affect the process used by investors to place orders, the TWSE said.     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai paints rosy picture for Taichung industries

The China Post
Date: June 19, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Monday that the robust industrial foundation in the Greater Taichung area should be utilized to support the development of the intelligent machinery and aerospace industries, the Central News Agency reported.

Tsai made the remarks while delivering an opening speech at a forum titled, “Foresight of Intelligent Machinery and Aerospace — Boosting Taiwan’s Competitiveness,” hosted by the Taichung City Government, in the company of Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung.

Forum participants included industry leaders, scholars from academic institutions and key Cabinet officials, including Minister without Portfolio Wu Cheng-chung, Minister Chen Tien-chih of the National Development Council, Economic Minister Lee Shih-kuang, Minister of Science and Technology Yang Hung-duen, Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan and Vice Education Minister Chen Liang-chi.     [FULL  STORY]

Gov’t mulls mechanism to phase out transplant hospitals: report

The China Post
Date: June 17, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The government is considering a mechanism to phase out some of the 26 organ transplantation hospitals in Taiwan that have undertaken few transplant operations, a local news report said on Tuesday.

The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) has sent the conclusion of a meeting on a phase-out mechanism to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW), according to the report by the United Evening News. The MHW will announce its decision within a month at the earliest, the UEN said.

Lee Po-Chang (李伯璋), chief of the NHIA and chairman of Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center, was quoted by the UEN as saying that the preliminary mechanism includes a system that red flags transplantation hospitals that conduct less than one heart transplant, less than four liver transplants, less than six kidney transplants, or less than 10 cornea transplants in four years. A red-flagged hospital would be put under review by a panel of experts and could lose its status as a transplantation facility, Lee said.

Lee added that a hospital under review would have the chance to send representatives to the review meeting and explain its case to the panel experts before a decision is made.     [FULL  STORY]

Indian Cabinet approves Air Services Agreement with Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-16
By: Central News Agency

New Delhi, June 16 (CNA) India’s Cabinet has given its approval to the signing of an air services agreement between India and Taiwan, the Indian government announced Wednesday.

The Cabinet also gave its approval to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries for cooperation in the field of agriculture and related sectors. The agreement and MOU came after Taiwan and India signed an MOU for cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises in the two countries last year and marks the first time the two countries have clinched such documents after the new Indian government took office in 2014, according to Tien Chung-kwang, Taiwan’s representative to India.

The establishment of the agreement and MOU will help the development of relations between the two countries and advance bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Tien said. The Indian government said in a statement that a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the signing of the Air Services Agreement between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in India and the India-Taipei Association in Taiwan. The center is Taiwan’s de facto embassy in New Delhi in the absence of formal diplomatic ties between the two sides.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares end below 8,500 points

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/16
By: Jalen Chung and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 16 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan took a beating Thursday, closing below the 8,500-point 201606160011t0001mark amid continued uncertainty and volatility in the global financial markets after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its domestic economic growth forecast for 2016 and 2017, dealers said.

On Wednesday, the Fed decided to keep U.S. interest rates unchanged but signaled that it was still planning two hikes this year. The Fed also lowered its economic growth forecast for the U.S. from 2.2 percent to 2.0 percent in 2016, and from 2.1 percent to 2.0 percent in 2017.

The Taiwan Stock Exchange’s main index on Thursday closed down 112.23 points, or 1.30 percent, at 8,494.14. Turnover totaled NT$69.54 billion (US$2.15 billion) during the session.

The market opened at 8.583.19 before moving between 8,584.67 and 8,476.84. The bellwether electronics sector closed down 1.27 percent, while the financial sector fell 1.82 percent.     [FULL  STORY]

Far EastTone inks MOU with Ericsson

TEAM EFFORT:Company president Yvonne Li said it plans to research and test 5G technologies and applications in a laboratory in collaboration with the Swedish firm

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 17, 2016
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信) yesterday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Swedish telecoms equipment supplier Ericsson AB to establish the nation’s first 5G laboratory.

The collaboration is part of the telecom operator’s efforts to create an open 5G ecosystem and to begin trials of 5G operations in 2018 at the earliest, before a commercial launch scheduled for 2020.

By that time, there would be about 100 million devices using 5G technology that would be capable of handling data 100 times faster than 4G technology, Far EasTone said.

The technology is in the standard-setting stage and is expected to be ready for commercial deployment within the next five years.     [FULL  STORY][

FPG confirms Vietnam steel firm operations postponed

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-15
By: Central News Agency

The Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), one of Taiwan’s leading conglomerates, confirmed Wednesday that a scheduled operating date for its steel mill in Vietnam has been postponed and said that no new schedule for the start of operations has been set.

Chang Fu-ning, vice president of Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp., said that the No. 1 furnace of the steel complex, which is located in the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh Province, central Vietnam, will not become operational on June 25 as scheduled.

The confirmation came after a Taiwanese media report that FPG has been forced to postpone the start of operations of the furnace in the steel mill, as the Vietnamese authorities have demanded that the group pay US$70 million in taxes it has been accused of having failed to pay.     [FULL  STORY]

Evergreen Marine gains new 20-year lease of Colon Container Terminal

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/15
By: Wei Shu and S.C. Chang

Taipei, June 15 (CNA) Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp. said Wednesday that it has gained approval 201606150023t0001to extend its lease of the Colon Container Terminal (CCT) in Panama for another 20 years, days before President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) heads there for the formal opening of the expanded Panama Canal.

Tsai is scheduled to visit Panama and Paraguay from June 24 to July 2, during which she will attend the inauguration of the expanded Panama Canal on June 26.

The new 20-year lease of the CCT was approved Wednesday by Panama’s Cabinet, Evergreen said in a news release.

Evergreen Marine, one of the world’s leading container shipping lines, said the 20-year extension of its CCT lease will help improve its service and efficiency and consolidate Panama’s status as a transshipment hub in the Americas.     [FULL  STORY]

Wistron to expand services businesses

DIVERSIFICATION:The company is looking to boost its medical services in China and expand its after-sales services in India to cover servers and Internet-of-Things devices

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 16, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

Wistron Corp (緯創) is to expand the operational scope of its medical services in China and after-sales services in India this year, as part of the company’s efforts to accelerate the growth of its new businesses, a company executive said yesterday.

“We recently established a medical service holding company and inked a cooperation framework with the Chongqing City Government in China,” Wistron president Robert Huang (黃柏漙) told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting in Taipei.

The medical service holding company, with paid-in capital of NT$600 million (US$18.5 million), helps Taiwanese and foreign medical equipment and device suppliers handle verifications and examinations in the Chinese medical market, Huang said.

The company has also served clients in Chongqing, while working with Wistron independent board director John Hsuan (宣明智) on a few projects in the biomedical field, Huang said, without elaborating.     [FULL  STORY]

Premier Lin presses company leaders to focus on employees

The China Post
Date: June 16, 2016
By Yuan-Ming Chiao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Premier Lin Chuan (林全) addressed corporate leaders Wednesday, urging them to

Premier Lin Chuan makes an address to the Third Wednesday Club at the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei on Wednesday, June 15. Lin spoke of the need for corporations to look into raising workers' wages, while speaking of the government's role to encourage investment. (Yuan-Ming Chiao, The China Post)

Premier Lin Chuan makes an address to the Third Wednesday Club at the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei on Wednesday, June 15. Lin spoke of the need for corporations to look into raising workers’ wages, while speaking of the government’s role to encourage investment. (Yuan-Ming Chiao, The China Post)

focus on the nation’s workforce and casting the government’s role as an “ignitor” for the sluggish economy.

“I am here to solve your problems,” Lin told the audience, emphasizing that the government would prioritize companies that wanted to improve employment conditions rather than ignore the situation and simply hire foreign workers.

Speaking at the Third Wednesday Club (三三會) in Taipei for half an hour before taking three rounds of questions, Lin said companies needed to look into increasing wages and that the government would work to attract investment. The government could no longer focus mainly on economic growth, but lead the way toward increased workers’ wages and pushing ahead with new industries.

Despite reiterating administration initiatives on green energy and the Asian Silicon Valley concept, Lin also spoke frankly, saying that renewable energy would take years to become a marketable industry and that many government plans required further research.     [FULL  STORY]