Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-08
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

In this peak season for annual shareholders meetings in June, Taiwanese investors are privileged to vote at home with their mobile devices without having to go outside to suffer through unbearable heat; for foreign institutional investors investing in Taiwan’s securities, they can use the unique “Straight Through Processing (STP)” for cross-border voting. With the inherent strength of digital technologies, Taiwan is leading the way in the field of electronic voting across the world, which is partially driven by the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corporation (TDCC), an organization less known by general investors, yet critical to ensuring the normal operation of Taiwan’s securities market.

As “Fintech” becomes popular and shakes up the banking and financial service industry around the world, Taiwan’s TDCC has been running ahead of its peers across the globe by building up teams running digital services and launching electronic voting platforms as early as 2009. Starting January 2015, the TDCC kicked off the STP mechanism for foreign investors to vote in various companies’ annual shareholder meetings at their convenience. This hardware-software integration has not only increased voting efficiency for foreign investors but also has made TDCC a role model among international depository authorities with its ground-breaking customer-minded services.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/08
By: Yu Kao-hsiang and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, June 8 (CNA) The Supreme Prosecutor Office launched a massive search of two major financial companies Wednesday, based on tipoffs that the firms were involved in illegal property and stock transactions. Some 448 prosecutors and policemen were mobilized to carry out the search of the Taipei headquarters of Financial Holding Co. and the Gobo Group, as well as residences of senior executives, according to the Special Investigation Division (SID).

The two conglomerates are suspected of irregularities that have hurt the financial market and violated the Banking Act and the Securities and Exchange Act, said the SID, which is a unit of the Supreme Prosecutor Office that handles cases of major corruption and economic crimes.

At a press conference, SID Director Kuo Wen-tung (郭文東) said 94 people were also summoned Wednesday for questioning, including Jeffrey Koo (辜仲諒), a major shareholder in CTBC Financial Holding, and Gobo Group Chairman Chu Kuo-rung (朱國榮).     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/06
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of May hit a record high, up slightly from a month earlier, even though foreign investors recorded a net fund outflow last month, according to the data released by the central bank.

Citing the statistics, the central bank said that forex reserves at the end of May rose US$248 million from a month earlier to US$433.43 billion. The bank said that foreign investors generally moved their funds out of Taiwan before May 20, when a new government was sworn in, but sentiments changed after May 20 with foreign investors starting to remit money back to Taipei.

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), the top financial regulator in Taiwan, reported last week that foreign investors registered a net fund outflow worth US$2.91 billion in May.

Market analysts said that the fund outflow reflected worries over cross strait ties due to a power transition to the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party government.     [FULL  STORY]

FINDING MIDDLE GROUND:The minister of economic affairs said that there are pros and cons to easing regulations on Chinese investment in Taiwan’s IC design houses

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 07, 2016
By: Lauly Li and Lisa Wang / Staff reporters

The government is to maintain a ban on Chinese investment in local IC design companies,

Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) said yesterday, after reports of pressure from technology firms to remove the restrictions.

The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday reported that MediaTek Inc (聯發科) allegedly pressured the Ministry of Economic Affairs to ease restrictions on Chinese companies investing in local chip designers to facilitate an acquisition bid from China.

However, Lee said MediaTek did not manage to pressure ministry officials.

“We will consider transferring the officials to other positions if they cannot handle the stress,” Lee said during a legislative hearing.

Industrial Development Bureau Director-General Wu Ming-ji (吳明機) said any policy change would have to go through due process and would not be easily influenced by any particular company.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date; 2016/06/05
By: Jeffrey Wu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 5 (CNA) More needs to be done by retailers in Taiwan to meet consumers’ expectations for shopping experience, as they are ranked second from the bottom in a survey to determine how retailers should focus their efforts on meeting customer demands.

The IBM 2016 Customer Experience Index Global Survey evaluated 550 retailers spanning eight different retail segments in 23 countries around the globe that were visited by mystery shoppers over the 2015 Christmas holiday period.

The study finds that only 40 percent of retailers provide the integrated online and offline shopping experiences customers anticipate.

The index measures customer satisfaction in the areas of consistency, content, context, and convenience.     [FULL  STORY]

ZEN AND PEPPER:Hon Hai vice president Lu Fang-ming expressed confidence in Pepper when talking about new competitor Zenbo, saying: ‘You get what you pay for’

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 06, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

The Syntrend Start-up Foundation (三創育成基金會) is to convene its first robot developer

competition for Softbank Corp’s Pepper humanoid robot in an effort to create a developer platform for the robot in Taiwan.

“We hope to gather the resources of enterprises and innovations from start-ups to build a platform for the robotics industry through this competition,” foundation chairman Jeff Gou (郭守正), who also serves as chairman of the Syntrend Creative Park (三創園區) in Taipei, told a news conference.

Gou said the event could help enrich the amount of content for Pepper, as the robot is just a simple device without strong cloud-computing infrastructure and a wide range of applications.
The event could also help accelerate the pace of Pepper’s entry into commercial and consumer markets, he said.

The event is open to domestic and foreign developers who are interested in writing applications for robots, Gou said, adding that a total of 20 teams are to be selected to present their applications at the final of the competition on Sept. 3.     [FULL  STORY]