TWSE outlines corporate governance improvements to Hong Kong investors

Senior representatives from the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) have gathered in Hong Kong this week to update institutional investors about recent improvements to the Taiwan capital market, including the impact of its ongoing corporate governance reforms, as well as the advantages of trading the Taiwan market.

Highlights included:

  • 87% of listed companies have appointed independent directors (a 20% improvement)
  • 70% of listed companies have adopted voting by poll (a 56% improvement)
  • 54% of listed companies have voluntarily adopted e-voting (a 86% improvement)
  • 49% of listed companies have adopted a nomination system for directors and supervisors (a 34% improvement)
  • 30% of listed companies have filed CSR reports in 2015 (a 54% improvement)
  • Insider holding violations and information reporting violations are continuing to decline (the average investor default rate for the last 3 years is less than 0.01%)
  • ETFs now account for 9.2% of total market trading value following the strong uptake of innovative products, including leverage/inverse ETFs and dual-currency ETFs

TWSE representatives have also outlined recent trading reforms that have been implemented in Taiwan, including changes to regulations governing day trading, margin trading, short selling, securities borrowing and lending (SBL) and daily trading limits.

Mr. Chi-hsien Lee, President of the TWSE, said:

We welcome all opportunities to interact with overseas institutional investors, who now hold 41.14% of the total market capitalization of the Taiwan market. It is encouraging to see more and more overseas investors taking advantage of the rising quality, accessibility, efficiency and diversity of the Taiwan market, as well as the high dividend yields and reasonable P/E ratios that are a feature of its listed companies.

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