Something strange is happening in the Taiwanese banking sector. Despite the ministry of finance having stated its aim of allowing banks a universal remit, it is now planning to issue industrial banking licences. As Rachel Wu, banking analyst at Warburg Dillon Read in Taipei points out: "Industrial banks create another niche within the financial sector." Acting as an industrial bank in Taiwan entitles the licence holder to arrange a variety of funding instruments for corporates including commercial paper and to undertake venture capital projects. To date, only state-run Chiao Tung Bank has such a license.
August 01, 1998