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Development of Fintech and Regulatory Environment

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The development of financial technology (fintech) is designed to enhance the competitiveness of the financial sector, but is accompanied by potential risks that give rise to new regulatory challenges.

To enhance members’ understanding of Taiwan’s fintech development strategies, AmCham Taipei’s Asset Management, Banking, Capital Markets and Insurance Committees jointly invited Wellington L. Koo, Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, to explain the government’s policy measures and their relation to global regulatory trends. Nearly 100 Chamber members and guests gathered to attend the event at The Regent Taipei on April 20.

In a presentation delivered in Chinese, Koo provided an overview of the current status of Taiwan’s financial sector and noted that regulators and supervisors around the world are promoting the growth of fintech while seeking to ensure the safety and soundness of the financial system.

Chairman Koo cited the tasks facing regulators around the world as they respond to the fintech revolution:

  • Providing interactive supervision and responding to the changes in technology
  • Encouraging the development of fintech innovation
  • Fostering new fintech startups by offering training and resources
  • Developing consistent standards and assisting new ventures in transnational development
  • Implementing regulatory technology to provide real-time monitoring of financial operators’ operating activities
  • Combining non-governmental forces to build a comprehensive information sharing and security system

Speaker Wellington L. Koo, Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission; William Foreman, AmCham Taipei President; Leo Seewald, AmCham Taipei Standing Vice Chairman; and AmCham Taipei Committee Co-Chairs

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Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.

Embracing Disruption: Mapping Out the Future

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A wave of change has hit the financial services sector. Banks, insurers and wealth management firms will face greater regulatory uncertainty, tightened profit margins, increasingly empowered consumers, and the entrance of disruptive competitors.

To help financial service firms understand the process of digital transformation, AmCham Taipei’s Banking Committee invited Fred Giron, VP and Research Director at Forrester Research, to share his insights at a seminar held at the Chamber’s Lincoln Room on April 11.

In his presentation entitled “The Future of Financial Services,” Giron gave an overview of how digital technologies have changed the way consumers and businesses interact with each other. In a recent survey conducted by Forrester, 50% of North American and European companies said they believe technological changes (digital transformation) will dominate business decision-making in the near future. Giron noted that financial services firms need to digitize their business strategies and choose how they will adapt to the market in order to stay competitive.

From left to right: Speaker Fred Giron, VP and Research Director at Forrester Research and AmCham Taipei President William Foreman

Giron outlined the four rules of digital transformation:

  • Digital experience: deliver experiences that are easy, effective, and emotional
  • Digital operations: reconceive products and capabilities to deliver better outcomes
  • Digital innovation: continuously improve and break through at the digital frontier
  • Digital ecosystems: build platforms and partnerships to accelerate and scale up

The speaker gave several case studies to demonstrate how financial service and insurance companies have digitized their service models. In these examples, successful companies leveraged their assets to generate insights and value for their businesses. He also emphasized the importance of “being the integrator” and creating value-added services that solve customers’ immediate needs rather than merely providing service add-ons.

The Lincoln Room is made possible by the generosity of a number of sponsoring companies:

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Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.

The Global Economic Outlook

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At a joint luncheon meeting of AmCham Taipei’s Asset Management, Banking, and Capital Markets Committees on Oct. 20 at the Grand Hyatt Taipei, Belinda Boa, the Hong Kong-based Managing Director of BlackRock Asset Management North Asia, gave a presentation on “Global Economic Outlook,” providing a briefing on the global BlackRock investment team’s assessment of the prospects for the world economy in the year ahead. Among her key points:

  • A gradual rise in interest rates can be expected in the U.S., probably regardless of who is named as the next Federal Reserve chairman. After having forecast rate hikes many times that did not occur, most other analysts are no longer making that prediction. But BlackRock expects rates to increase, though not to the same level as before the global financial crisis.
  • Investors should not necessarily be put off by the currently high equity valuations in the U.S., as the price has been justified by earnings. But preference should be given to other markets. The environment seems especially favorable for emerging markets.
  • Geopolitical factors are injecting more unpredictability than usual into the market. Some major examples are the North Korean nuclear threat, renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and growing tensions between the United States and China. There is concern over the possibility of a geopolitical surprise.
  • BlackRock expects sustained economic expansion and is positive on “momentum” and “value” stocks, especially in emerging markets, Japan, and Europe (it is neutral on U.S. stocks). On the fixed-income side, it likes U.S. investment-grade credits.

From left to right: Vincent Ma, CEO / Managing Director, BlackRock Investment Management (Taiwan) Ltd.; AmCham Asset Management Co-chair Christine Jih, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas Investment Partners Taiwan Co., Ltd.; AmCham President Andrea Wu; Speaker Belinda Boa, Managing Director, Head of Active Investments for Asia Pacific and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Emerging Markets Fundamental Active Equity of BlackRock; AmCham Governor Leo Seewald, Chairman / Managing Director, BlackRock Investment Management (Taiwan) Ltd.; AmCham Asset Management Co-chair Derek Yung, Chairman of Alliance Bernstein Investments Taiwan Ltd.; AmCham Pharmaceutical Committee Co-Chair Lai Li Pang, Managing Director, Merck Sharp & Dohme (I.A.) LLC, TW Branch; and AmCham Advanced Learning Lab Advisor William Zyzo, Advisor, Training Director, Z&A Knowledge Solutions

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Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.

Joint Committee Luncheon: The Future of Financial Progress and FSC Policy

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Addressing the current state of the financial industry and the policy path forward, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) vice chairman Cheng-Mount Cheng told a recent AmCham Taipei luncheon audience that the FSC over the past year has taken positive steps to build a better business environment and stimulate financial product innovation in Taiwan.

The presentation, entitled “The Overview of Financial Industry Development and The FSC’s Main Policy,” was delivered at the Regent Taipei on June 16 at a meeting co-sponsored by the Chamber’s Asset Management, Banking, Capital Markets, and Insurance Committees.

Speaker Cheng, Cheng-Mount 鄭貞茂, Vice Chairman at Financial Supervisory Commission 金融監督管理委員會副主委, Andrea Wu, AmCham President, and AmCham Taipei Committee Co-Chairs

Cheng devoted much of his talk to the FSC’s proposed programs for financial technology (“fintech”) innovation. He said that responding to concerns voiced by several fintech companies, the FSC has prioritized implementation of a “regulatory sandbox” – an encouraging space for technological innovation, free of most existing regulatory constraints. Such a mechanism would enable both financial institutions and fintech developers to test new products and services for a trial period of up to 18 months.

Cheng affirmed that fintech is a top priority for the FSC, but that the Legislative Yuan needs to pass authorizing legislation before the regulatory sandbox mechanisms can go into effect.

The Vice Chairman identified the FSC’s main policies as:

  • Promote fintech
  • Develop green finance
  • Support the New Southbound Policy
  • Promote measures for the aged society
  • Expand the scale of the capital market
  • Promote financial inclusion measures
  • Strengthen prevention of money laundering
  • Protect consumers’ rights and interests

Cheng said that these policy priorities are opportunities to bring Taiwan’s financial industry in line with international standards, and even enable Taiwan to become a global leader of financial innovation. “I believe with tech advancing very fast every day, we will see results,” he observed.

While optimistic about the financial industry’s future, Cheng is nonetheless very aware of the FSC’s jurisdictional limitations in shaping that vision. “Many people know that the FSC is in charge of financial markets, but they don’t understand that our capability is quite limited,” he noted.

In a comment for the AmCham Taipei blog, Christine Jih, co-chair of the Asset Management Committee and Chairman & CEO of BNP Paribas Investment Partners Taiwan, said: “Increasing interdepartmental coordination is key to streamlining regulation and strengthening Taiwan’s financial industry. The Vice Chair has been very modest but we all know he has done a lot for the industry. Mr. Cheng is very open-minded and keen to improve this system. This is an industry facing new challenges and new issues every day, and government departments need to talk to each other to keep up with these advancements.”

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.

Joint Luncheon on Global Banking Regulations

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On October 14, Ronald Gould, Chairman of Think Alliance Group, spoke to AmCham members and guests at a Joint Committee Luncheon on the topic of Global Banking Regulations Compliance issues, including Dodd-Frank, Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Know Your Customer rules (KYC).

Large multinational financial institutions, regional banks and even predominately Asian financial holdings with only a limited presence in the United States have been caught off-guard by changing rules and expectations from regulatory authorities.

In reality, AML and KYC compliance is nothing new. But the level of complexity and cross-border ramifications are not well understood. Mr. Gould shared his insights so that listeners might be made more aware and better prepared to handle these issues in the future, in an ever-changing, increasingly complex and globalized economy.

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Some topics covered during Mr. Gould’s presentation included:

  • Changing global regulatory requirements
  • Emerging trends and industry practices for global banks and asset managers
  • More intrusive regulatory oversight, implications of the Dodd-Frank Act in the US that will affect financial institutions and asset managers globally
  • Greater focus on governance, management and compliance including KYC and AML
  • Challenges and opportunities for Taiwan

This event was a joint committee luncheon, hosted by the AmCham Banking, Asset Management, and Capital Markets committees.

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