Taishin reduces board seats to 7 from 9 as largest shareholder nominates director candidates

TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Dear Fellow Taishin Shareholders,

Your vote and your voice is critical to the future performance of your investment in Taishin Financial Holdings.

We ask that you vote your shares in support of our three nominees LIN Chia Hung (Peter), WU Su Chiu (Pamela) and LIN Jin-Tsong (James). We are the largest shareholder of Taishin FHC (2887 TT), and we own 9.9% of outstanding shares.

For years, Taishin FHC has underperformed and has been undervalued compared to its peers. We see value in Taishin - but not without change - and that change must begin at the board level.  PJ Asset Management believes that strengthening corporate governance and overall board effectiveness will enhance business performance, and drive long-term value creation of the companies we invest in.  

In Taishin's CSR report, Chairman WU Tong-Liang stated:

"We shall strive to enhance risk management performance and establish ourselves as the role model in the governance aspect." 

For this term's election, Taishin FHC's board of directors decided to reduce the number of seats on its board to 7 from 9. This is well below the local and global peer average board size of 13 for financial holding companies. Financial companies tend to have larger boards than non-financial listed companies given that a diverse skill set and greater oversight is needed in this industry. Is Taishin's decision to reduce the size of its board in the best interest of its shareholders and in line with being a role model in corporate governance, or is it motivated by a desire to keep its nominees entrenched on the board?

With only 7 seats, is this why the President of Taishin FHC does not sit on the board?

With only 7 seats, will each director get higher compensation given that the pool of profit distributed remains the same despite 2 fewer directors?

With only 7 seats, was there no room to include nominees with strong risk management experience or FinTech capabilities?

Vote for our nominees and bring this necessary expertise to the board.

 

Of equal concern is how little change or diversity there has been on Taishin's board since its establishment. One of the leading ESG research firms, MSCI ESG Research - whose reports are consulted by thousands of global institutional investors - uses four conditions to determine if a board should be considered entrenched. If only one of the four conditions is met, then MSCI considers the board entrenched. The Taishin FHC board, nominated by current management, meets not just ONE of the conditions of an entrenched board but TWO.

 

We invite Taishin FHC management to explain to its shareholders the reasons behind their decision to reduce the size of the board, and how it is in the best interest of all stakeholders.

Taishin has sent an army of proxy solicitors and brokerages out to solicit your voting rights for their candidates. We have not.

We ask you to make your own decision for the nominees that can better protect and oversee your investment in Taishin. Our candidates will bring diversity of opinion, gender and necessary expertise to the board.

Don't sign over your right to vote, go online to Stockvote https://www.stockvote.com.tw/evote/  starting on May 9th until June 5^th and vote for our nominees. For more information on our firm and nominees please visit www.pjam.com.tw.

Together, let's provide more oversight and accountability on the Taishin FHC board for the future of our investment!

Sincerely,

PJ Asset Management Co., Ltd.

 

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