On June 14, 2018 the Executive Yuan approved a new action plan to develop Taiwan's financial sector. Addressing such issues as economic development and the aging of Taiwan's population, the plan lays out strategies and objectives covering four sectors: banking, securities and futures, insurance, and financial technology, with the goals of channeling financial sector resources into helping other industries grow, integrating technological innovations, expanding into international markets, and promoting financial inclusion.
Strategies and objectives
►Banking: Plans call for efforts to connect the financial sector with other industries, attract capital and professional talent, establish an international financial management platform, expand global financial networks, increase incentives for mergers, and encourage innovation, as well as ramp up the scale of Taiwan's financial institutions.
►Securities and futures: The government will create a friendly environment for investment, encourage financial innovation and a diversity of financial products, sculpt a culture of corporate governance, and increase incentives for mergers and acquisitions. These efforts aim to bring at least 100 more companies to local exchanges within two years.
►Insurance: Insurers will be encouraged to offer a broader range of insurance products, while the government builds foundational infrastructure for the digitalization of insurance and promotes technological developments in the insurance industry. The government will also steer the insurance industry toward a larger role in economic development in line with recent amendments to the Insurance Act. Guarantee-type and old-age products (excluding investment types) should account for at least 60 percent of all insurance products within three years; and within five years the number of people covered by microinsurance should reach 1 million. The insurance industry will also invest an additional NT$150 billion (US$4.9 billion) or more over the next three years in such areas as "five plus two" innovative industry startups, public works and long-term care organizations.
►Financial technology: The government will pursue such measures as advancing an experimentation mechanism for new financial technology, building a financial technology innovation campus, and nurturing financial tech startups. Regulators will process at least 10 applications for financial innovation experimentation each year for the next three years.