FUBON HOPES FOR SPEEDY CHINESE INSURANCE DECISION

TAIWAN’s Fubon Financial Holdings is aiming to launch insurance operations in China. The financial firm has already received the go-ahead to start banking operations in China, which will go ahead this month, but has also applied for an insurance licence, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Fubon got the nod for its banking expansion from the Taiwanese authorities in May, with its Hong Kong subsidiary due to take a 20% stake in Xiamen City Commercial Bank in the southeastern Fujian province. The Taiwanese firm’s plan to enter the Chinese insurance sector were delayed by the Beijing Olympics last month, but Fubon’s president told The Wall Street Journal that the insurance licence could be granted in the fourth quarter of this year.