Taiwan is aiming to set up its first exchange to list US dollar-denominated bonds issued by foreign firms, in its latest effort to boost its capital markets and keep in line with global trends, the top financial regulator told Reuters. Morgan Stanley and AT&T are among those global names that have sold US-denominated bonds in Taiwan, mostly to local insurance firms. However, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) says a bond exchange is necessary to make capital markets more active.
"We're studying proposals to have insurers take a certain portion of their bond positions to trade... We're aiming to reach a conclusion late this year," the FSC chief William Tseng said in an interview late on Friday. "The point in the future is to set up a secondary market," he said, adding London already has such a bond exchange. Taiwan, once criticised for not being open enough to foreign investors, has eased some major financial regulations since Tseng became the FSC chief in 2013.