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Since the Financial Holding Company Act took effect on 9 July 2001, 14 financial holding companies have been set up in Taiwan. In response to the growing diversity of investments by insurance companies, on 19 November 2004 the Financial Supervisory Commission announced substantial amendments to the Regulations Governing Qualification Requirements for Responsible Persons of Insurance Enterprises. This overhaul of the Regulations is based on a balanced consideration of the qualifications that a person should possess in order to hold office as president (general manager) or vice-president (deputy general manager) of an insurance company, and was made with reference to the corresponding rules for the banking sector.
The main points of the amendments are as fol-lows:
The list of legislations under which a confirmed criminal conviction or uncompleted criminal sentence, or an order by the competent authority for removal from office, at any time within the last five years, disqualifies a person from being a responsible person of an insurance company, have been expanded to include the Financial Holding Company Act, the Trust Enterprise Act, the Act Governing Bills Finance Business, the Financial Asset Securitization Act, the Real Estate Securitization Act, and the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Act. (Article 3 Subparagraphs 6 and 11)
Financial holding companies and trust com-panies have been added to the list of the types of financial institution a responsible person of which may not concurrently hold office as a responsible person of an insurance company. But if the person holds the position in the other institution due to an investment relationship, the insurance company appointment may go ahead with the approval of the competent au-thority; provided, that no person concurrently holds office in both enterprises as board chairperson or manager. (Article 3 Subpara-graph 13)
In response to the entry into force of the Act Governing Merger of Financial Institutions and the Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions Act, an exception has been added to the Regulations to allow the competent authority to suspend the restrictions on a responsible person of another financial institution becoming a responsible person of an insurance company, if the insurance company is in-volved in a merger, or if such an appointment is desirable in order to deal with an unsound insurance company. (Article 3 Subparagraph 13 Item 4)
The eligibility requirements for the president and vice-presidents of an insurance company have been amended in line with Articles 4 and 5 of the Regulations Governing Qualification Requirements for Responsible Persons of Banks. (Articles 4 and 5)
Eligibility requirements for assistant managers have been abolished. Insurance companies can henceforth employ such persons as they see fit in accordance with their internal management needs. (Old Article 6 deleted.)
In accordance with the principles of non-retroactivity and protection of reliance, the amended Regulations exempt persons al-ready serving as responsible person of insur-ance companies when the amendments took effect, from some of the amended qualifica-tion requirements, and provide that a person who was already concurrently a responsible person of another institution may remain in office for the remainder of his or her current term. (Article 9)
