The general shareholders’ meeting of the Taiwan Depository Clearing Corporation (TDCC) that was held on June 24, 2022 set the dividend per share (DPS) at NT$4.2 for cash dividends and NT$3.4 for stock dividends.

Financial ecosystems and services have been disrupted by the pandemic in recent years. To keep up with the trends and needs of the market, TDCC began promoting business digitalization and innovation services like equity, fixed income instruments, funds, and cross-border custody. Moreover, TDCC also created and implemented more than ten measures in 2021 such as launching asset integration services on the ePASSBOOK application (集保e手掌握), adopting a more open policy for securities firms, utilizing blockchain technology to deliver bills and bonds statements, helping competent authorities to achieve precision regulation with big data platforms, proposing financial inclusion programs like the Pension Platform, and improving ESG disclosures on the Investor Relations Platform (IR Platform). When the pandemic alert level was raised, TDCC developed the Disease Prevention Operating Guidelines for Shareholder Meetings and built the e-Meeting Platform within a short period of time. The platform was later used by 17 issuers for their shareholder meetings. After the optimization and stabilization of the platform’s functions in 2022, 72 companies have applied to use it for their shareholder meetings. Among them, 63 companies have already completed their meetings while the remaining 9 will convene their meetings next week.

In terms of international participation, TDCC continued to actively participate in virtual cross-border events even during the pandemic. In some of the events, TDCC was invited to share the development and application of the IR Platform that greatly raised the international visibility of Taiwan. With regards to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), TDCC continued contributing to the common good of society by promoting rural education and organizing blood donation drives. TDCC continues to play its part in supporting socially disadvantaged individuals and sponsoring art and cultural activities.

TDCC was able to have a fruitful 2021 due to everyone’s joint efforts. Financially, TDCC’s performance was exceptional in the bullish market conditions—for the first time ever, the combined revenue exceeded NT$10 billion. The profit after tax of the NT$10.322-billion revenue is NT$6.174 billion and the earnings per share (EPS) is NT$14.03, setting new record highs in the history of TDCC.

In the shareholder meeting, Chairman & CEO Sherman Lin (林修銘) stressed that TDCC will hasten its path towards open innovation and platform economy and at the same time, play a supporting role in helping develop government policies. As the company’s businesses and services become more diverse, it will revise its organizational structure to better attract and nurture top talents in the long run. In addition, digital deployment and cybersecurity preparedness are being developed in tandem. The enhanced defense capabilities and resilience of cybersecurity will play a vital role in maintaining a stable capital market.

Shareholders elected new directors and supervisors of the 12th board at the meeting. The 7 elected directors are Han-Chiang Chu (朱漢強), Sherman Lin (林修銘), Wei-Cheng Hwang (黃維誠), Mei-Chu Liao (廖美祝), Falco Mi (糜以雍), Gloria Ching (景廣俐), and Horng-Twu Liaw (廖鴻圖). The 3 elected supervisors are Chun-Hong Chen (陳俊宏), Chung-Che Huang (黃崇哲), and Shiu-Feng Hung (洪秀芬). The board meeting was convened shortly after the shareholder meeting. All directors unanimously elected Han-Chiang Chu to be the new Chairman. Subsequently, Gloria Ching was appointed to be the interim President.

Sherman Lin graduated from the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University (NTU) and holds a master’s degree from the School of Business at George Washington University in the United Sates. Since he started working at TDCC in 2005, he has served as the Senior Executive Vice President, President, and Chairman & CEO. In the past 17 years, Lin has never stopped reshaping the corporate values that TDCC upholds. He also introduced agile development and digital thinking. With digital DNA, he led teams to make great strides in innovation and transformation. The entire company views things from the user’s perspective to provide quality services.

During Lin’s tenure as chairperson, he spared no effort in helping exchanges with the reforms on market trading systems and the introduction of new services. Apart from providing timely back-office services for institutions, Lin also encouraged his colleagues to actively explore new fields of services and adopt new operating models. TDCC is expected to go above and beyond the picture that the industry has painted for it through business diversification strategies. The goal is to build a brand new FinTech ecosystem where the entire financial services market can grow and thrive together.

In addition, TDCC invested in and established FundRich Securities, the first successfully government-run online fund distribution platform in Asia, in 2016. On a mission to do right by society, TDCC promoted retirement preparation programs like the ReLife Project—Experimental Project for Self Pension Saving Investment and Pension Platform to help the public gain more knowledge regarding fund investments. Back then, Lin was also the Chairman & CEO of FundRich Securities. During his tenure, he successfully turned losses into profit in October 2021 and ended a streak of 4 consecutive years of losses. The after-tax EPS for the year reached NT$2.27. Serving over 210,000 clients with assets that exceed NT$80 billion, this record-high number makes FundRich Securities the largest online fund distribution platform in Taiwan.

Han-Chiang Chu will take office as the new TDCC Chairman. Chu graduated from the Department of Business Administration at National Chengchi University (NCCU). He also holds an MBA from NTU and an EMBA from NCCU. He joined TDCC in 1996 and has served as the Secretary General, Senior Vice President, and President. For over 2 decades, he has gained considerable experience in the securities market and familiarized himself with the core businesses of TDCC. He has led and supervised the company in completing a 4-year system upgrade and overhaul for the Securities Entrust Terminal Workstation—SMART, the information system of TDCC’s core businesses—laying a solid foundation for future development.

During Chu’s tenure as president, he continued to promote digitalization; implemented retirement preparedness programs like the ReLife Project—Experimental Project for Self Pension Saving Investment and Pension Platform; as well as implemented financial inclusion. In addition, he helped strengthen cybersecurity preparedness and information efficacy. In 2020, Chu led the TDCC team and won first prize in a national Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) competition. TDCC was recognized as a great CIP provider with an Excellence Award and Chu was recognized as the Best Commander.

Lin and Chu have been working together for over a decade. These two leaders have great chemistry with each other and see eye to eye when it comes to financial market development, technology application trends, and business strategies. Lin might be stepping down, but the culture that encourages innovative thinking and digital transformation has already become deeply rooted in the workplace. With such a solid foundation in place, Chairman Chu will be able to lead TDCC towards its next milestone.