Anti-Money Laundering
1.Money Laundering Control Act Related Regulation
On 19 February 2025, the Executive Yuan announced that enterprises or persons providing third-party payment services, as specified in Subparagraph 5, Paragraph 3, Article 5 of the Money Laundering Control Act (Act), are exempt from the requirement that a report shall be made if a currency transaction reaches the designated threshold amount under Paragraph 1, Article 12 of the Act. This exemption takes effect immediately.
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Sunny Lan
Energy
2.Draft Standards for Installation of Solar Photovoltaic Power Generation Facilities in Buildings
On 21 February 2025, the Ministry of the Interior announced the draft “Standards for Installation of Solar Photovoltaic Power Generation Facilities in Buildings” (“Standards”) for public consultation. We summarize below:
(1) To specify the applicable scope of the Standards based on building usage categories as defined in the General Provisions of Building Technical Regulations.
(2) To specify the scale of applicable subjects under the Standards and the installation capacity requirement to be met.
(3) To specify the conditions and procedures for buildings that do not meet the power generation capacity standards to be exempted from the installation requirements under the Standards.
(4) To specify that for a building where the competent authority for the relevant business/industry determines that there is genuine difficulty in installing solar photovoltaic power generation facilities and issues a certification document, the proprietor of such a building may be exempted from installing solar photovoltaic power generation facilities under the Standards.
(5) To specify the regulations and safety maintenance measures with which solar photovoltaic power generation facilities, construction and wiring design shall comply.
(6) To specify the documents that shall be submitted at each stage when applying for relevant building licenses and for grid connection.
(7) To specify the recipients and procedures for the transfer of solar photovoltaic power generation facilities by the proprietor and to impose obligations for their management and maintenance.
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Sean Tsai
Financial
3.Amendment to Financial Institutions Information Security Protection Guideline
On 12 February 2025, the Bankers Association announced the amendment to the”Financial Institutions Information Security Protection Guideline”, which provides that operational environment managers who use fixed passwords for identification shall follow the following requirements:
(1) Ensure that the password length is at least 12 digits and require password complexity. If this is not practicable, a risk assessment shall be performed and appropriate alternative control measures shall be implemented; and
(2) change the passwords within three months after accounts provided to personnel for use. If other criteria are taken into consideration and relevant risk assessments have been conducted, changing the passwords within six months after use may be considered.
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Eva Chiu
4.Draft Amendment to Offshore Banking Act
On 14 February 2025, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced the draft amendment to the “Offshore Banking Act” for public consultation. We summarize below:
(1) To stipulate that operating losses incurred by Offshore Banking Unit, Offshore Securities Unit and Offshore Insurance Unit shall not be deducted from taxable income; and
(2) The implementation period for the exemption of Offshore Insurance Unit from profit-seeking enterprise income tax, business tax, stamp tax and withholding tax derived from offshore insurance operations is revised to be 20 years, starting from 6 February, 2015.
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Zoe Chen
Insurance
5.Draft amendment to Regulations Governing Permission of Insurance Business Transactions and Investment Between the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area
On 13 February 2025, the FSC announced the draft amendment to Articles 20-1 and 27 of “Regulations Governing Permission of Insurance Business Transactions and Investment Between the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.” We summarize below:
(1) To revise the ratio of the most recent period’s regulatory capital to risk-based capital and capital tier for insurance companies in Taiwan applying with the competent authority for approval to establish branches or subsidiaries in Mainland Area.
(2) To revise the capital tier for insurance companies in Taiwan applying with the competent authority for approval to invest in shares of insurance companies or foreign insurance companies in Mainland Area.
Reported by: David Tsai / Joe Liao
SITE/SICE
6.Ruling regarding the provisions of Article 10, Paragraph 1 of the Regulations Governing Securities Investment Trust Funds
According to Article 10, Paragraph 1 of the Regulations Governing Securities Investment Trust Funds, when utilizing fund assets, securities investment trust funds must comply with the relevant regulations and restrictions unless otherwise stipulated by these regulations or the FSC. On 24 February 2025, the FSC announced a ruling to update the scope of the so called “other provisions stipulated by the FSC”. We summarize below:
(1) The total investment by each securities investment trust fund in futures trust funds offered to unspecified persons by futures trust enterprises, as well as in leveraged, inverse, futures, commodity, and virtual asset exchange-traded funds traded on securities markets, shall not exceed 10% of the fund’s net asset value. Investments in virtual asset exchange-traded funds shall be limited to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds only and shall not exceed 5% of the fund’s net asset value.
(2) The types of funds eligible to invest in virtual asset exchange-traded funds shall be limited to multi-asset funds and fund of funds.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Eden Hsieh
7.Amendment to the Scope of Foreign Securities Investments by Securities Investment Trust Funds
On February 24, 2025, the FSC issued a ruling to announce an amendment to the scope of foreign securities eligible for investments by securities investment trust funds. The major update is to expand the scope of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to include leveraged, inverse, futures, commodity, and virtual asset ETFs. In addition, the virtual asset ETFs are defined to be limited to Bitcoin ETFs.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Winnie Su
| Editors: Mike Lu (Partner) Stacy Lo (Partner) Jeffrey Liu (Partner) Kang-Shen Liu (Partner) David Tsai (Partner) Angela Lin (Partner) Paul Hsu (Partner) Alex Li (Partner) | 顧問: Echo Yeh Sue Su Jolene Wang (Lexcel Partners IP Firm) |
