TAIWANESE MINISTRY DRAFTS FINANCIAL HOLDING COMPANY LAW

Taiwan’s finance ministry has submitted for cabinet approval a draft law that would convert major financial institutions into diversified holding companies. The draft rules that any bank, insurance firm or broker with large holdings by a single investor or group of related investors must apply to become a financial holding firm. The new holding firms could become financial “supermarkets” offering banking, insurance, fund management and other facilities. Taiwanese law previously forbade any single investor or group of related investors to hold more than a quarter of a bank — a restriction that was lifted after a financial institution merger law was passed in November.