Taiwan makes little headway privatizing banking sector

In recent months, the Taiwanese press has been full of reports concerning the government's plan to speed reform of the financial sector and meet a NT$291 billion ($8 billion) budget deficit by privatizing a number of state-owned banks. Privatization is one of the key planks of the government's overhaul of a financial sector, which has long been teetering under the weight of a staggering 52 banks, 300 credit co-operatives and about NT$1.03 trillion ($30 billion) in NPLs.