October 26, 2005
In the run-up to the Euromoney magazine Taiwan Global Investment Forum, it is reported that Lehman Brothers has decided to list Taiwan's bonds on its Global Aggregate Bond Index. Although it is reported that Taiwan's bonds will received a weighting of just 0.5% on the Lehman Brothers bond index, the fact that this it the first global bond index to list Taiwanese bonds is of great significance to Taiwan as global bond managers refer to such indices when making their investment decisions.
At present, a total of
NTD 4 trillion in bonds have been issued on Taiwan's bond market. Nearly
NTD 3 trillion of this total comes from government bonds. In August, Taiwan's bond market posted total transactions of
NTD 34.3 trillion.
The Financial Supervisory Commission has been working hard to have Taiwan's government bonds included in global bond indexes in order to attract international bond funds and retirement funds. At the end of June, Citigroup announced its decision to create the Taiwan Government Bond Index. This is the first instance of a foreign investment organization listing Taiwan's government bonds.
Officials from the Financial Supervisory Commission visited Citigroup and Lehman Brothers in New York as part of preparations for the investment forum. It is during these meetings that Lehman Brothers stated its decision to add Taiwan to its global bond index. Taiwan investment targets to be added to the Lehman Brothers index include such fixed-return financial products as government bonds, corporate bonds and financial bonds.
Executives from Taiwan's leading information technology, communications and financial enterprises are attending the Taiwan Global Investment Forum, as are top government officials. The forum is taking place first in New York and then London, both in mid October.
Taiwan is serious about promoting itself an Asia Pacific financial center. It has spent the last two years making improvements to its banking sector, including the promotion of mergers and demanding that banks cut their overdue loans ratios. Other features of the nation's expanding financial market include stocks, futures, real estate securities and bonds.
(United Daily News)
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