Press Release
FSC to issue amended "Required Qualifications for 'Foreign Special Professionals with Specific Financial Expertise' and Principles for Recognition of Qualifications" following conclusion of public consultation period
2020-12-14
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) administers the Employment Gold Card system in accordance with the provisions of the "Required Qualifications for ''Foreign Special Professionals with Specific Financial Expertise'' and Principles for Recognition of Qualifications." The FSC issued the aforementioned Qualifications and Principles on 8 February 2018 upon authorization set out in the "Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals," which has been in force since 2018. To date, 114 Employment Gold Cards have been issued, including 69 cards issued in the first 11 months of 2020. The system has thus clearly begun to show results.
The FSC drafted the amendment to the aforementioned Qualifications and Principles to respond to ongoing internationalization of Taiwan''s financial markets, and to help meet the strong demand for professional talent that has arisen in connection with rapid development of new technologies. The public consultation period for the amendment proposal has now come to an end, and during that period no comments were put forward by any outside parties, therefore the FSC is now preparing to issue and implement the amended Qualifications and Principles within the coming days in accordance with prescribed administrative procedures. Under the amended provisions, minimum periods of various types of employment have been revised, and measures to facilitate recruitment of foreign professionals with multi-disciplinary expertise have been strengthened. Key points of the amended provisions are listed as follows:
1. Point 2 of the Qualifications and Principles requires that an applicant must "have served in a professional position in a financial institution, and have outstanding professional ability or cross-border experience much-needed by the country." To obtain recognition as having met this requirement, the applicant was previously required to have served at least five years in a managerial-level position at a domestic or foreign financial institution. This five-year minimum has now been reduced to three years.
2. Point 4 of the Qualifications and Principles requires that an applicant must be "a present or former chairman, general manager, director, supervisor, or important senior executive of a financial institution." To obtain recognition as having met this requirement, the applicant was previously required to have been an important senior executive of a financial institution for at least 10 years. This 10-year minimum has now been reduced to five years.
3. Point 5 of the Qualifications and Principles requires that an applicant must be "a financial professional needed by the government to promote a key industry (such as FinTech)." To obtain recognition as having met this requirement, the applicant was previously required to have served in a relevant position(s) for at least five years. This five-year minimum has now been reduced to three years.
4. Point 6 of the Qualifications and Principles requires that an applicant must otherwise be "a potential contributor to the country''s financial industry." To obtain recognition as having met this requirement, the applicant is required to provide relevant documents which show they have academic qualifications and employment experience in key industries promoted by the government.
Due to the internationalization and diversification of Taiwan''s financial markets, financial institutions need a wide range of professionals with multi-disciplinary expertise. It is expected that the amendments described above, along with earlier actions taken by the FSC to ease qualification requirements for the responsible persons of various types of financial institutions, will facilitate the efforts of Taiwanese financial institutions to recruit a more diverse range of multi-disciplinary professionals.
Mr. Yaopai HUANG, Section Chief, Department of International Affairs, FSC
Contact tel.: +886 2 8968 0080
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- Update: 2020-12-14