Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has increased the validity period of a scheme that gives qualified foreign asset managers special privileges and named eight firms that are eligible for the extension, including four from the US, two from Europe, and one each from Asia and the UK.
The scheme, known as “deep cultivation programme”, is aimed at encouraging foreign firms to be committed to Taiwan’s asset management industry for the long term.
Among other things, the programme currently allows qualified firms to submit more fund products to the FSC for approval at one go if they meet requirements such as local employment and size of funds. But all privileges are only valid for one year so firms have to keep applying annually.
The validity period has now been increased to two years for firms that qualified for three consecutive years, the FSC says in a statement on November 22.
AllianceBernstein, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and J.P. Morgan Asset Management from the US, Dutch asset manager NN Investment Partners, Germany’s Allianz Global Investors, Japan’s Nomura Asset Management, and the UK’s Schroder Investment Management qualify under the new criterion.
But they have to formally apply by June 2023 or risk losing eligibility.
The FSC will also now include environmental, social and governance benchmarks in the deep cultivation programme to facilitate sustainability in the asset management industry. This, the regulator says, will complement its policy to promote sustainability in the securities and futures industry, announced in March.
“[These changes] are expected to improve foreign managers’ willingness to participate in the programme and encourage them to put more resources for ESG research, personal training and technologies in Taiwan,” the FSC says.