Taipei Times
Date: Nov 16, 2015
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

“There seems to be a revival of venture capital companies in Taiwan in the last six months to a year,” H&Q Asia Pacific (漢鼎亞太) founding chairman Hsu Ta-lin (徐大麟) said in an interview at his Taipei office. “There has been serious activity over the past year, which we had not see for about a decade.”

The revival reflects the growing interest of foreign private fund managers on local start-up technology companies, including US venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.

Sequoia has invested in two Taiwanese start-ups including artificial intelligence (AI) developer Appier (沛星科技) and Internet retailer Pinkoi, which sells local brands.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-14
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, Nov. 14 (CNA) Formosa Petrochemical Corp., a private gasoline supplier in Taiwan, said Saturday that it has decided to lower domestic fuel prices ahead of rival state-owned CPC Corp., Taiwan, effective from 1 a.m. Sunday. Formosa Petrochemical has lowered domestic gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.6 (US$0.02) per liter in reflection of falling international crude oil prices.

Since February, Formosa Petrochemical, one of the subsidiaries of conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group, has adopted a strategy in which the gasoline supplier tends to cut prices earlier than CPC when fuel prices trend lower, in a bid to grasp a higher market share.

Earlier this week, international crude oil prices came under heavy downward pressure after the International Energy Agency (IEA) published a monthly report that said the global demand for oil in 2016 will slow to 1.2 million barrels per day from 1.8 million barrel per day for this year.

In addition, the IEA said that oil inventories continued to build, although crude oil production has been on the decline, which added more pressure to international crude oil prices.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-13
By: Tseng Ying-yu, Huang Chiao-wen and Frances Huang    

Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) Lawmakers of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) proposed on Friday to abolish a capital gains tax on stock gains that has yet to take effect but has nonetheless been accused of leading major investors to move their funds from Taiwan’s stock exchange.

The proposal would essentially kill legislation imposing taxes on certain stock profits that was passed in mid-2013 but then had its implementation delayed until 2018 because of fears it would negatively affect turnover in the local equity market. What would remain would be the existing 0.3 percent transaction tax.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng said the newly proposed bill to ax all capital gains taxes on stock gains needed to go through cross-party consultations before being put up for a vote. The new measure was proposed as the Legislative Yuan was still discussing another bill proposed by Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu in August when she was still campaigning as the KMT’s presidential candidate. Although her nomination was withdrawn by the KMT in October, the party said at the time it would continue to push for passage of the bill. Hung’s proposal was to divide the 0.3 percent stock transaction tax into two parts.          [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/13
By: Tien Yu-pin and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) More than 200 banking experts from 22 countries gathered in Taipei on Friday for the final session of the annual ABA (Asian Bankers Association) General Meeting and Conference to discuss, among other topics, strategies for dealing with the current market challenges.

Focused on the theme “Asian Banks: Growing Beyond Borders,” the two-day meeting featured sessions on regional integration, managing a multi-cultural and multi-generational customer base, going digital, and business strategies to meet current market challenges.

Brett King, co-founder and CEO of Moven, a New York-based mobile banking startup, was invited to speak about consumer trends amid the rise of mobile banking and mobile payment services.     [FULL  STORY]

BAD COMBINATION:Low demand in China weighed down the company’s earnings, while weak profitability in overseas factories eroded the already thin profit margins

Taipei Times
Date:  Nov 14, 2015
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday reported its first monthly operating losses in about three-and-half years, as oversupply drove down prices.

The company, which is based in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港), posted operating losses of NT$6 million (US$182,326) for last month, reversing an operating profit of NT$164 million in September.

CSC blamed a global economic slump and overcapacity in China for its weak financial performance. The company’s last reported operating loss was in February 2012, when it posted pre-tax losses of NT$572 million, the company said.

CSC said its pre-tax profits fell 85 percent to NT$109 million last month, compared with NT$725 million in the previous month.     [FULL  STORY]