To encourage offshore fund institutions to expand their asset management business in Taiwan on long-term basis and promote sustainable development, the Financial Supervisory Commission (“FSC”) announced the amendments to the aforementioned Policy and the relevant Q&A by taking views of the Securities Investment and Consulting Association and industry participants, to relax valid recognition period for the application of preferential measures for the applicants and add explanatory cases in "other substantial contributions" of the Q&A , to list assessment items for developing ESG business assessment standards by offshore fund institutions , to promote the sustainable development of Taiwan’s asset management business.
The key points of this amendment are as follows:
I.    Relaxing the valid recognition period for the application of preferential measures : For the needs of industry participants and encourage offshore fund institutions to operate asset management business in Taiwan on a long-term basis, if offshore fund institutions have been recognized by the FSC for three consecutive years, it could apply for an effective recognition period of two years in the year following the third recognition.
II.    Encouraging offshore fund institutions to assist in promoting sustainable development: In compliance with the “Transition Strategies of Sustainable Development for Securities and Futures Sectors” launched by the FSC in March 2022, offshore fund institutions are encouraged to provide their ESG-related research resources or technologies to master agents or their established subsidiaries who could develop ESG-related businesses or cultivating talents in the ESG field. Explanatory cases are also added to the aforementioned Policy of Q&A regarding Regulations Governing Offshore Funds, to describe the assessment criteria for other substantial contributions related to ESG.
This amendment does not involve any adjustments to the structure of aforementioned Policy. For offshore fund institutions which qualify in the three dimensions of “increasing the investment in Taiwan by offshore fund institutions, including setting up locations and investing in technology and manpower,” “increasing the scale of the asset management industry in Taiwan” and “improving talent development of asset management in Taiwan”, preferential measures may be applied after the recognition by the FSC.
After the amendments to the aforementioned Policy, 8 enterprises could apply for a two-year recognition period for the application of preferential measures before the end of June 2023, for an extension of the recognition period of preferential measures; in addition, the assessment items of other substantial contributions are stipulated for offshore fund institutions’ development of ESG related businesses in Taiwan. The amendments are expected to increase the willingness of offshore fund institutions to participate in the aforementioned Policy on long-term basis and encourage them to increase ESG research resources, talent training or technology transfer of their master agents or established locations in Taiwan, in order to assist Taiwan's asset managers in business development. In the future, the FSC will continue to review the contents of the Policy to encourage and affirm offshore fund institutions that make efforts to contribute to the asset management market of Taiwan.


Contact unit: Mr.Yeh, Section Chief, Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Division, Securities and Futures Bureau
Tel: 2774-7357
For any questions, please write to:
https://fscmail.fsc.gov.tw