President Tsai Ing-wen (???) encouraged the government, the private sector, and academia on Monday to work together to develop and internationalize Taiwan’s financial sector by cultivating a local talent pool.
Addressing an opening ceremony for National Chengchi University’s (NCCU) College of Global Banking and Finance, Tsai said that sound economic growth had allowed Taiwan to enjoy good credit ratings and report strong foreign exchange reserves, creating a good foundation for the country to develop international finance at a time when the financial industry is becoming more global.
In late April, S&P Global Ratings raised its long-term issuer credit ratings for Taiwan to AA+ from AA, saying that the outlook for the country’s economic performance was favorable, based on robust demand for its electronics exports.
At the end of April, Taiwan’s forex reserves fell by US$3.71 billion from a month earlier to US$545.06 billion due to the central bank’s intervention to prevent the fall in the Taiwan dollar value, but the country still ranked as the fourth-largest forex reserve holder in the world, up one place from a month earlier.
In the post COVID-19 pandemic era, Tsai said, Taiwan should cultivate a banking talent pool to enable the local financial industry to speed up its efforts to reach international standards with NCCU’s College of Global Banking and Finance a part of these efforts.
Tsai said Taiwan would aim to become a capital hub for enterprises in Asia as well as a center for wealth management for people with significant assets in the region.
In addition to Tsai, high-ranking government officials such as Finance Minister Su Jain-rong (???); central bank governor Yang Chin-long (???); Kung Ming-hsin (???), head of the National Development Council; and Chiu Shu-chen (???), vice chairwoman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, also attended the NCCU ceremony, as did representatives from 27 financial institutions.
According to Tsai, the presence of these attendees at the ceremony demonstrated Taiwan’s collective effort to try to become a regional financial hub with the public and private sectors and academics willing to pour resources into the college.
The Presidential Office said in a statement that the new NCCU college was the second international finance department in Taiwan to be opened. In April, the president unveiled the inauguration of the School of International Finance at National Sun Yat-sen University.
The NCCU college, which will teach bilingually, will have four teaching pillars — international asset management; financial innovations; Environment, Social and Governance; as well as inclusive financing, and legal compliance, which Tsai said was expected to create a new higher education teaching model by integrating theory with practice.
Inclusive financing is aimed at promoting the availability of banking services to the broadest segments of society at affordable terms.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel