Regulations Governing Foreign Bank Branches And Representative Offices Article 2

A foreign bank, which meets the following requirements, may apply for the approval for the establishment of a branch within the jurisdiction of the Republic of China (ROC):1. The said foreign bank shall not have committed any major regulatory violation within the last five years;2. The said foreign bank shall be ranked, in terms of capital or assets, among the top five hundred banks in the world within one year prior to application, or shall have conducted transactions with the banks and enterprises in the ROC in an aggregate amount of more than one billion U.S. Dollars in three calendar years prior to application, of which no less than one hundred and eighty million U.S. Dollars shall have been in the form of medium or long term credits. Where there are special provisions in an economic and trade agreement signed by the ROC and the home country of the said foreign bank, such special provisions shall prevail;3. The said foreign bank shall engage in international banking business with a good credit rating, a sound financial structure and the ratio of its capital/risk-weighted assets complying with the standards prescribed by the competent authority;4. The said foreign bank shall designate a branch manager who has sufficient experience in international finance and the management of international banking operations;5. Both the banking competent authority and the head office in the home country of the said foreign bank shall have the capability to supervise all of its foreign branch offices on a consolidated basis; and the bank shall have obtained the approval of the competent authority in the home country to open a branch in the ROC and agree to cooperate with the competent authorities in the ROC in the supervision and management of the foreign bank's branch in the ROC; and6. No other facts indicate that the sound business operations of the said foreign bank may be hindered.A foreign bank, which has established branch offices within the jurisdiction of the Republic of China, may assume all or major portion of the assets or liabilities of another foreign bank. The said foreign bank planning to establish a new branch concurrently in the ROC shall be subject to Article 8 [of these Regulations].Where a foreign bank that does not have a ROC branch, and, as a result of its head office merging with another bank, or where a foreign bank acquires more than 50% shares of another bank, thus acquires the assets or liabilities of a ROC bank branch, and said foreign bank meets the requirements of Article 2 Paragraph 1, then Article 6 shall apply to the concurrent establishment of a branch in the ROC.