Taifex appoints new chairman and president

The Taiwan Futures Exchange (Taifex) has appointed Wu Rong-I as chairman and Steve Wang as president for three-year terms, replacing outgoing chairman Wang Der-shan and president Foo-shiung Ho, both of whom have retired.

Wu was previously senior presidential adviser and vice-premier of Taiwan, and has also served as head of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. Wang was formerly chairman of the Chinese National Futures Association and has worked as president of Grand Cathay Futures Corp, the first futures commission merchant established in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s annual futures trading volume of 92.7 million lots made it the 18th most active market globally in 2005. The exchange expects annual trading volume to exceed 100 million contracts in 2006. In 2005, its Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (Taiex) option was ranked third worldwide in terms of annual trading volume, and also set an all-time single-day high of 940,000 lots on May 5, 2006.

In line with its goal to attract foreign participation, Taifex introduced index options for the electronics and finance sectors last year. Earlier this year, it launched US-dollar denominated gold futures contracts, allowed foreign investors to engage in trading for non-hedging purposes and also introduced the system of omnibus accounts.