Ma Ying-jeou 's Remarks

Ma Ying-jeou 's Remarks
IEFA Banquet
May 22, 2007

I am deeply honored be invited to the 2007 NTU International Conference on Economics, Finance and Accounting (IEFA) Banquet, and to be asked to say a few words before such distinguished guests. This subject of this conference is financial institutions and the capital market, with the emphasis on finance.

As everyone knows, economics and finance are closely related. The so-called Real Economy is the body, while financial operations are the flow of blood through the body's blood vessels. If financial institutions and capital markets are operating properly, and the movement of capital is unobstructed, then the economy functions normally. Therefore ensuring that capital flows properly is a key concern.

Financial systems, like other systems, are man-made. If man-made systems are improperly managed, even assuming one is not attempting to enrich oneself, problems can easily multiply.

Take financial mergers during the past two or three years for example. Rampant fraud has destabilized the financial market. This has resulted not only in the firing of Ministry of Finance officials, but also in public skepticism concerning the incorruptibility of government leaders and their family members. It has provoked confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties, and unrest within society.

From this we can see the impact of stable finances and rational policies on the economy. These are lessons that deserve our attention. For the past two or three years, the government's financial reforms have been concerned primarily with financial mergers and fights for a controlling interest. Government manipulation and a lack of transparency have provided special interests with abundant opportunities to exploit, and paved the way for collusion between the ruling government and favored cronies.

In particular, the government's "Financial Supervisory Board," recently established under the auspices of the ruling government's ironically-named "Financial Reform Policy," was supposed to provide independent financial oversight. Instead of becoming an objective referee however, it became an obedient tool of the executive branch.

Financial mergers and acquisitions have been scandal-ridden, and the public offering of government owned shares has lacked transparency. Financial institutions the board is supposed to oversee have witnessed runs on the bank, and public funds have been squandered.

Given the wave of liberalization and globalization of the financial industry, we should allow financial institutions that have survived stiff competition to connect with the world, establishing branches abroad with direct investment. However, due to the ruling party’s conservative and isolationist cross-Strait policies, Taiwan’s financial industry has not been able to expand freely overseas, creating over supply in the financial market. It is natural that in recent years the revenue of financial institutions in Taiwan has been diminishing, even hitting bottom. What’s more, because businesses could not freely choose the location of their investment and production, it has become increasingly common for Taiwan businesses to list in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Due to its conservative financial policy, the DPP government has advocated mergers of financial institutions in order to resolve over competition, the principal objective being the buyout of other financial institutions by financial holding corporations. The government did not adopt a more liberal financial policy, instead it merely increased corruption.

It is true that the current consolidation and merger measures by financial holding corporations constitute a policy direction toward globalization, but the process should be determined by market mechanisms. When the government uses executive power to steer mergers of financial institutions as well as the privatization of state-run banks, distorting the structure of the financial market and the financial industry, it is a clear case of not respecting market mechanisms, and producing many corruption cases. Looking back, the government contradicted its original intention of encouraging privatization of state-run banks when it demanded that ChinaTrust Financial Holding Corporation release the shares of Mega Financial Holding Corporation that it owned. Likewise, the Finance Ministry contradicted its earlier policy of privatizing the China Development Financial Holding Corporation when it fought with the latter for a controlling interest. Also, the shares of the state-run Chang Hwa Bank were released to a private financial holding corporation. The latter invited a private fund, and this fund secured loans using shares of the financial holding corporation as collateral.

This ignited the current financial confusion and created misgivings over the concentration of financial institutions in the hands of a few conglomerates, simultaneously causing potential instability in the financial market. The foregoing is the result of the government’s improper financial policies.

Taiwan’s financial industry and capital market now face a bottleneck. Some scholars and experts even even believe these difficulties could marginalize Taiwan. How can we expand our capital market, increasing the number of listed companies? How can we enable the financial industry to expand the scope of its business and raise its revenue? These issues deserve study by scholars and experts here today. I sincerely hope that important conclusions will be reached for the benefit of our fellow citizens.

馬英九市長
演講稿
96.5.22

本人非常榮幸能受邀參加2007 NTU International Conference on Economics, Finance and Accounting (IEFA)晚宴貴賓致詞。本次會議主題為金融機構與資本市場。亦即為以金融為討論重點。

眾所週知，金融與經濟是一體的。所謂實質經濟之運行為軀體，而金融之運作猶如體中之血脈。金融機構與資本市場運行順暢，則資金流動順暢，經濟運行乃能正常如序。因此如何使金融健全運行，實為重要課題。

然而誠如各種制度一樣，金融制度之建立均為人為組織。因此若人為管理操作不當，甚至人謀不贓，則常常容易滋生問題。

就以最近兩三年之金融合併而言，由於金融弊端頻仍，使得金融市場穩定受到衝擊。不但因此造成金融主管官員去職，而且還引發人民對於政府領導人及其家庭成員之清廉度的質疑。終於引發政府對立及社會不安情勢。

由此可見，金融穩定及金融政策之合法性、合理性，對於社會經濟影響至鉅。這些都是值得我們警惕的教訓。

回顧過去兩三年來，政府所推動的金融改革，以金融整併及股權併購為主。由於政策強力主導，並且缺乏透明化，以致於讓財團有機可乘，形成官商勾結的局面。

尤其是金融改革下新成立的金融監督管理委員會，本應兼負獨立金融監理及發展責任，然而卻無法超然獨立，終於受制於行政當局。不但金融整併工作不順利，官股釋出欠缺透明化機制，甚至連列管的金融機構都出現擠兌風潮，浪費公帑甚鉅。

而 在金融業自由化及全球化的浪潮下，原已過度競爭之金融業應該讓它們走出國門，赴 海外直接投資設立分支機構。然而，執政黨之兩岸政策保守孤立，以致於使台灣之金融業無法自由往外發展，造成金融市場超額供給現象。近幾年台灣金融機構收入 遞減，甚至居於谷底，其來有自。尤有甚者，由於企業無法自由選擇投資生產地點，以致於台灣企業出走至香港上市掛牌者日甚。

由於當前金融政策的保守，金融改革為解決金融業過度競爭現象，政府主張金融業合併。其中尤以金控公司併購其他金融機構為主要目標。而未採取金融開放政策，因此引起多項弊端。

目 前金控公司整併的作法固然是邁向國際化的一個政策方向，但應該由市場機能來決 定。政府用行政權主導金融機構合併及公營銀行民營化，造成金融市場及金融產業的結構扭曲，此乃不尊重市場機能，因此自然而然產生諸多弊端。從事後的現象來 看，政府要求中信金釋出兆豐金股權即與當初鼓勵公營銀行民營化的本意相違背；而財政部與開發金爭奪股權則與當年開放開發金民營化的政策相牴觸。此外公營之 彰化銀行釋股給民營金控，而民營金控引入私募基金後，該基金又以金控之股票抵押借款，引發當前金融混亂及金融財團化的隱憂，同時造成金融市場潛在不安定， 這些都是政府金融政策不當所致。

當前我國金融業及資本市場之發展正瀕臨瓶頸局面。有些專家學者更直指這種困境有惡化為邊緣化之危險。如何進一步擴大資本市場，使上市公司家數增加；如何讓金融業擴大業務範圍以提高收益能力。這些都是值得與會學者專家研究課題。希望能夠獲得重要結論，提供國人參考。