TAIPEI, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Taipei Exchange (TPEx), has successfully built an efficient multi-tiered fund-raising platform to foster the growth of innovative companies within the Taiwan capital market while also focusing on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices.
Support for Innovation
Along with a Mainboard of well-established companies, TPEx provides an Emerging Stock market, which includes Emerging Stock board and Pioneer Stock board, for companies prior to IPO, and the Go Incubation Board for Startup and Acceleration Firms. This multi-tiered structure aims to support the growth of enterprises through various stages of their development.
In line with Taiwan government policies, TPEx has been devoted to fostering innovative industries, high-tech industries, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), thus driving the momentum of Taiwan’s economy. Since its establishment 28 years ago, TPEx has assisted more than 2,300 public companies to gain access and contribute to the Taiwan capital market.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Practices
While providing a convenient mechanism for fundraising, TPEx also assists listed companies in setting their sustainable operations and ESG practices in response to the impact of climate change and international attention to the sustainability issue. As The European Union’s (EU’s) proposed new directive on corporate sustainability reporting (CSRD) is planned to come into effect in January 2023, TPEx has long been engaged in enhancing ESG information transparency, including requiring listed companies to prepare Sustainability reports in accordance with GRI Standards and strengthening the disclosure of Sustainability Reporting with reference to international norms under TCFD and SASB.
TPEx has also made efforts to publish relevant information and guidelines to assist listed companies in strengthening ESG-related disclosure. The rate of listed companies that prepared sustainability reports for 2020 was around 20% and according to the "CG WATCH 2020 Report” from the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA), Taiwan’s concerted effort over the past two years to enhance its CG ecosystem has moved it from fifth to fourth position.
In order to deepen sustainable growth, TPEx has strengthened the function of the board of directors for listed companies and continues to expand the scope of TPEx-listed companies that are required to prepare Sustainability reports. Companies are encouraged to enhance communications with stakeholders, and from June 2023, TPEx-listed companies will also be required to appoint a Chief Governance Officer.
To meet the needs for ESG investing and sustainable financing globally, TPEx has been promoting diversified ESG investment products and responsible investment. TPEx has launched several sustainability-themed indexes to steer market funds toward investments that address climate change and environmental sustainability. The Chairman of TPEx, Philip Chen, stated that, “TPEx commits to upholding ESG values to strengthen our core businesses. TPEx will continue to promote capital raising functionality, innovative and sustainable related products, information transparency, and efficient fair-trading mechanisms; building a vibrant and innovative world-class capital market.”
For more information about the Taipei Exchange, please visit: https://www.tpex.org.tw/web/index.php?l=en-us
