Taiwan and Taishin to manage Chang Hwa board election

Taiwan earlier planned to increase the government's stake in CHB and to persuade Taishin to sell some of its CHB stocks to state-owned banks.

Taishin Financial Holding Co. President Lin Keh-hsiao said on Wednesday that the holding company has reached an agreement with the Ministry of Finance regarding the Chang Hwa Bank board elections slated for November.

The government and Taishin agreed to “manage the CHB together” in the upcoming election, Lin said, adding that the company is working smoothly with the government in the bank. Lin's remark came after a comment by Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der in a Legislative Yuan Finance Committee session earlier this month, saying that he had talked with Taishin Chairman Thomas Wu and that the MOF and Taishin had reached a deal to “work together” in CHB.

Local media speculated that the agreement is for the CHB board to remain at its current structure, with its chairperson appointed by private shareholders and its president by government shareholders.

Taishin's holdings in CHB stocks reached 22.5 percent in 2005, replacing the government as the bank's single largest shareholder, according to the CHB website. The MOF had planned to increase the government's stake in the bank and to persuade Taishin to sell some of its CHB stocks to state-owned banks since CHB's last board election three years ago. However, both the government's and Taishin's holding ratios in CHB have remained unchanged.

View the full story in China Post.