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TWSE hosts three Investor Relations Forums for listed companies starting on September 10

Publish time:2018-09-12

TWSE states that the market value of listed shares held by foreign institutional investors and the volume traded by domestic or foreign institutions in Taiwan's secondary markets both averaged 40% at the end of 2017. The statistics show the importance of institutional investors in Taiwan's capital markets. To help listed companies improve the quality of their dialogue with investors and build an effective means of communication, TWSE is going to hold the Investor Relations Forum in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung on September 10, October 4 and 5, respectively.
 
Inspired by campaigns for social responsible investing, institutional investors are adopting more rigorous standards in choosing investments and in observing the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of companies in which they invest. Furthermore, a number of recent scandals and fraud cases involving large businesses around the world have had a large impact on investor rights and attracted more attention to shareholder activism. Governments have started to strengthen regulations that protect shareholder rights or require institutional investors to fulfill their stewardship responsibilities. In Taiwan, more than 90 professional institutional investors have signed the Stewardship Principles for Institutional Investors since the principles were released in 2016. With more institutional investors taking action to better fulfill their stewardship responsibilities on an ongoing basis, more dialogue and engagement is expected to take place between institutional investors and listed companies in Taiwan's capital markets. The Corporate Governance Roadmap (2018-2020) released by the FSC in April also makes promoting shareholder activism as one of the five key action plans. The aim is to have institutional investors and other external shareholders monitor TWSE/TPEx-listed companies so as to urge these companies to enhance their corporate governance engagement. Capital markets as a whole can be made healthier as a result.
 
The Investor Relations Forums include keynote speeches by IR experts and representatives from professional institutional investors like Cathay Life Insurance, IR consulting firm Ipreo by IHS Markit, and listed companies including Chailease Holding, Johnson Health Tech, and Taiflex Scientific. The speakers will address topics such as "Institutional Investor Stewardship Case Study", "How to Communicate with Institutional Investors", and "How IR Maximizes Value of Equity Investments" from different angles. In addition, the representative of government funds, the Bureau of Labor Funds of the Ministry of Labor, will join the keynote speakers in a panel discussion on the topic, "Bilateral Communication in Stewardship". The panelists will exchange views and ideas and give the audience a better understanding of investor relations in practice as well as ways of having positive dialogue and engagements with investors when institutional investors exercise stewardship in the future.
 
The TWSE wishes to take the opportunity offered by the forum to help listed companies improve the quality of their dialogue with investors, understand the needs of investors, and build effective channels of investor communication. The TWSE would also like to urge listed companies to effectively strengthen corporate governance and transparency in order to create long-term value and achieve sustainable development.