Taiwan currently has eight asset managers with more than one trillion New Taiwan dollars’ worth of assets under management
Taiwan, known for its semiconductor sector, which accounts for roughly 20% of the global industry and over 60% of total foundry revenue, has set its eyes on the next growth area: asset management. As per the Japan Times report, the East Asian island country is seeking to expand the scale of its asset management industry as it aims to strengthen its position as a regional financial hub.
As per the Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Dr Peng Jin-lung, Taiwan’s USD 630 billion asset management sector must capitalise on the country’s global leadership in technology and tap into the strong capital base of domestic financial conglomerates in order to compete more effectively on the international stage.
Dr Peng told The Japan Times that the island nation must develop multiple large-scale asset management firms to remain competitive internationally, warning that without sufficient scale, it would be difficult for the industry to compete on a global level. As per the senior official, the industry’s limited scale reduces Taiwan’s ability to effectively promote its domestic investment opportunities overseas.
Dr Peng’s statements come at a time when Taiwan is working to bolster its financial industry alongside its globally dominant semiconductor sector to enhance economic resilience amid growing geopolitical pressure from China.
The Financial Supervisory Commission, along with other domestic regulators, have urged institutional investors to channel more investment mandates to local asset managers, whether within their own financial groups or through other domestic firms, to help accelerate industry growth and scale.
Taiwan is also simultaneously attempting to expand its fund management activities.
“While reaching 1 trillion New Taiwan dollars (USD 32 billion) in assets under management was once considered a landmark achievement for local firms, that figure pales in comparison to rivals in hubs like Hong Kong, where the asset management industry oversees more than USD 3.3 trillion,” Dr Peng commented.
“To bridge the gap, the FSC is looking inward. We’re urging more domestic institutional investors to directly mandate local asset managers — either within their own financial groups or to other domestic peers — to quickly grow the industry,” he stated further.
There are currently eight Taiwanese asset managers with more than 1 trillion New Taiwan dollars’ worth of assets under management, according to the FSC. Yuanta Securities Investment Trust and Cathay Securities Investment Trust lead the sector, each with more than 2 trillion New Taiwan dollars in managed funds.
Cathay Financial Holding, Taiwan’s largest financial group, in October 2025, made public its plans to gradually entrust all of the more than 7 trillion New Taiwan Dollar-worth assets held by its life insurance subsidiary to the group’s asset management unit. TS Financial Holding has a similar plan.
“Taiwan’s USD 1 trillion life insurance industry has structural advantages that have long dwarfed the asset management sector. Decades of low interest rates fuelled a household obsession with insurance policies that offered higher returns than traditional bank deposits. The FSC is now actively calling on these insurers to allocate more investment mandates to domestic managers,” Dr Peng concluded.
