SFB Securities and Futures Bureau

The Securities and Futures Bureau (SFB) is the arm of Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission that runs the securities and futures markets, and it has done since 2004. The FSC sets policy. The SFB writes the rules, applies them, and supervises the firms.

What the SFB supervises

The remit is wide. Public companies that raise money on the markets fall under it, which covers their offerings, share issues, listings and over-the-counter trading. So do the securities and futures firms themselves, the industry's trade associations and related foundations, investment trust funds, and margin trading. Foreign investment coming into Taiwan's capital markets is supervised here too.

Futures contracts need the Bureau's approval before anyone can trade them. On the audit side, the SFB oversees how certified public accountants audit and attest the financial reports of listed companies.

Supervision is not left to the end. The Bureau looks at a product or an offering before it reaches the market, while it trades, and after.

Five priorities

Direct financing. COVID-19 left a lot of businesses short of cash. The SFB has since worked on opening up funding through the markets — small and medium-sized firms and startups above all — drawing on the large pool of capital already inside Taiwan.

Corporate governance and ESG. This runs under the Corporate Governance Roadmap 3.0. Listed companies are asked for clearer environmental, social and governance reporting; disclosure in English is encouraged so foreign readers can follow it; institutional investors are pushed to engage with the companies they hold; and the range of green and sustainable products is being widened.

Stronger firms. The Bureau wants securities and futures firms doing more investment banking — funding corporate growth and technology — and building fintech services of their own.

More products. Three pieces of infrastructure are named: a central counterparty to clear over-the-counter derivatives, real estate securitisation, and asset management businesses aimed at clients abroad.

Audit quality. The SFB backs Audit Quality Indicators, which are meant to show how an audit was actually carried out rather than only that it happened, and to give supervisors something measurable to hold auditors to.

International work

The Bureau follows what other markets are doing, works with regulators abroad, and meets firms and investors at home. New rules, market statistics and supervisory notices are published as they come.