July 26, 2004
The Executive Yuan has already approved a draft revision of the Financial Institutions Merger Act, proposed by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), adding clarity to the scope of the commissioned auctioning of real estate by impartial third parties entrusted by the courts and providing a legal basis for the collection of fees. The aim of the draft revision, which has been sent to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation, is to smooth the merger of financial institutions.
The data show that since the Financial Institutions Merger Act was implemented in December 2000, it has provided a favorable legal environment for mergers and has established a mechanism for asset management companies to purchase and dispose of bad debt from financial institutions. By the end of March 2004 the number of financial institutions involved in mergers (including banks, community financial institutions, securities houses, and insurance companies) had reached 75, and asset management companies had purchased a total of more than NT$450 billion in bad debt. In addition, the courts had commissioned an impartial third party to handle the more than 2,100 cases of trial real estate auctioning; proceeds from the auctions reached approximately NT$13.5 billion, allowing the recovery of almost 70% of the bad debt involved. These figures show that the Financial Institutions Merger Act is fulfilling the functions of bringing about financial industry consolidation and accelerating the liquidation of bad debt.
E-mail this page.
Invest in Taiwan
