萬國法律事務所

In early 2014, several financial mechanisms have been introduced and enforced, including the deregulation of the business scopes of securities firms and banks, the implementation of no par value stocks, the fund-raising of Startup Boards and the expanded range of companies subject to electronic voting requirements, and mandatory independent-director requirements and auditor committees, among others.

The par value of shares issued by the public offered companies were set fixed in the amount of NT$10 per share before December 23, 2013 in Taiwan according to Article 14 of the Guidelines Governing The Processing of Securities Matters by An Issuer. To provide the flexibility for the fund raising of the entrepreneur(s), the FSC amends the said provision to be “the shares issued by the company shall have the same par value” on December 23, 2013. As a result, no par value stocks or flexible par value stocks are issuable in Taiwan thereafter.

The FSC on 8 November 2013, acting upon the authority of Article 177-1 of the Company Act, expanded the range of companies subject to electronic voting requirements. Beginning in 2014, all exchange- or OTC-listed companies with paid-in capital of NT$ 5 billion or more and at least 10,000 shareholders must provide the option of electronic voting at shareholders meetings. However, companies meeting the above description and having paid-in capital of an amount between NT$ 5 billion and NT$ 10 billion and which are scheduled to elect directors and/or supervisors at their first shareholders meeting in 2014 and also amend their articles of incorporation to adopt a candidate nomination system, will be allowed to postpone electronic voting until the next shareholders meeting.

The mandatory independent-director requirements apply to all listed companies, which shall appoint independent directors once the board terms are completed from 2015 to 2017. Financial enterprises and the companies with actual capital in the amount of NT$10 billion must establish an auditor committee from January 1, 2014 and the companies with paid-in capital ranging from NT$2 billion to NT$10 billion must establish an auditor committee from January 1, 2016.