To make its mechanism for handling failed financial institutions in Taiwan more complete and assist in strengthening the effectiveness of cooperation in relation to the financial safety net, the Central Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) especially invited the Chairman of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI), Mr. Jean Pierre Sabourin, to visit Taiwan and to comment from an international perspective on Taiwan's financial supervisory mechanism. For Mr. Sabourin to have made this special trip to Taiwan is indeed a great honor to us, and in order to make full use of this opportunity to learn from his vast experience, CDIC hosted a seminar in its auditorium on the 12th floor at its Taipei office starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 27, 2007, at which Mr. Sabourin gave the keynote address. CDIC also invited officials from both the Financial Supervisory Commission and the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan), which are both members of Taiwan's financial safety net to participate. Following the meeting, CDIC also arranged for representatives of the mass media to conduct in-depth interviews. In addition, Mr. Sabourin met with high-level government officials, including Mr. Fai-nan Perng, the Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Dr. Sheng-cheng Hu, Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, in order to share with them from his abundant and rich experience.
From the time of its establishment in 1985 to the present day, CDIC has made every effort to establish a deposit insurance mechanism. In 2001, CDIC was commissioned by the Executive Yuan's Financial Restructuring Fund to assist in establishing a mechanism to enable failed financial institutions in Taiwan to withdraw from the market. In 2002, CDIC became a founding member of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI). Since then, CDIC has actively exchanged experiences with deposit insurance organizations and financial supervisory institutions both in Taiwan and overseas and has established an information sharing mechanism, while also helping domestic financial institutions to comply with international norms.
Recently, Taiwan experienced the largest run on a bank in its history, namely, a run on The Chinese Bank, an event that became a focal point of attention of the international financial community. In the aftermath of this crisis, all eyes have once again focused on examining the limitations in terms of the powers conferred upon the deposit insurance mechanism, as well as the speed and effectiveness of the current mechanism for dealing with local financial institutions that fail. CDIC is the only specialized institution with responsibility for the deposit insurance mechanism in Taiwan, and it is also responsible for implementing the policies for dealing with failed financial institutions. In order to enable CDIC to more effectively accomplish its duties, CDIC organized this seminar and invited Mr. Jean Pierre Sabourin to deliver the keynote speech. A total of eighty people attended this meeting. During the meeting, Mr. Sabourin focused on such topics as the handling of failed financial institutions, the cooperation and linkages among the members of the financial safety net, and how to establish an international financial crisis early-warning system in order to respond to financial developments in the future. Mr. Sabourin dealt with each of these issues in depth during his speech and this was followed by a general discussion that consisted of face-to-face exchanges of ideas and experience between Mr. Sabourin and members of Taiwan's financial safety net. The exchanges were indeed very lively.
Mr. Jean Pierre Sabourin is the former president of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, and has almost thirty years of experience in deposit insurance and financial supervision. He is widely recognized as a respected authority in these fields. Since retiring from the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, CDIC, he has channeled all his efforts into the newly-established Malaysia Deposit Insurance Corporation (MDIC), by serving as its first Chief Executive Officer. He is an acclaimed leader in the area of international financial supervision. He has studied the topics referred to above in depth and is well known for his original insights into them. CDIC is on this occasion availing itself of the platform of IADI to establish channels for international communication on the subject of Taiwan's financial safety net, and thereby enhance substantial effectiveness of the financial safety net. Through the active participation of the financial safety net players, people from many different levels within the financial sector, both international and local, were able to pool their wisdom together and generate some lively discussions that went a long way toward making the mechanism for handling failed financial institutions become more complete.
Since CDIC became a member of the International Association of Deposit Insurers in 2002, it has greatly expanded the exchanges between the world's deposit insurance institutions and financial supervisory organizations. CDIC President Johnson Chen is currently also serving as an Executive Director of IADI and as the Chairman of its Research and Guidance Committee. In the future, CDIC will continue to integrate its international experiences through exchanges such as this among international organizations, and it will also continue to make every effort to improve the establishment of a financial safety net in Taiwan.