TAIWAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Weita Liao, Denise Jen, Arthur Chang and Peter Chen, LCS & Partners
the Taiwanese government, it is foreseeable that in the near future it may keep on tightening up on investment from PRC entities. Merger control Recent development Taiwan established a set of comprehensive antitrust and unfair competition activities regulations with the enactment of the Fair Trade Act in 1992. There have been several amendments since, with the amendment in 2015 that modified over 70% of the provisions set forth in the original Fair Trade Act constituting the most significant one. Under the 2015 amendment, the revenue numbers of entities that are controlled by, controlling or affiliated with the entities in the merger, as well as other entities under common control, will now be included in the threshold amount for merger filings, which makes it easier to reach the filing thresh - old. Under the 2017 amendment, the review period was extended to 30 working days from 30 calendar days (with an extension of no longer than 60 working days). Furthermore, in the event of a hostile takeover, the competent authorities will provide the reasons for filing to the target company and ask for comments from the target company. From the enactment of the Fair Trade Act in 1992 to December 2025, approximately 7,393 applications were submitted for merger approval (for filings made before the amendments to the Fair Trade Act in Febru - ary 2002) or merger notification (for filings made since February 2002, subsequent to the amendments to the Fair Trade Act). Of those filings, only 14 of the pro - posed transactions have been refused or prohibited by the Fair Trade Commission (TFTC). No statistics are, however, provided with respect to those merg - ers that are approved or cleared subject to specific conditions. Such conditions are not uncommon, par - ticularly in cases requiring more complex analysis and a detailed balance between overall economic benefits and restraints on competitiveness. Some conditions may be very cumbersome for the parties and, in effect, prohibit the completion of the deal. In a strategic move to align with global economic trends and streamline regulatory oversight, the TFTC announced an update to the “Thresholds and Calcu - lation Methods for Sales Amount for Merger Filing”
effective in early 2026. The core focus of this amend - ment is the increase of sales volume thresholds. Under the new criteria, a merger must be filed with the TFTC if any of the following conditions are met. • The total global sales of all participating enterprises in the preceding fiscal year exceeded NTD50 billion (up from NTD40 billion), and at least two of the enterprises each had domestic sales in the pre - ceding fiscal year exceeding NTD3 billion (up from NTD2 billion). • Non-financial institutions: One participating enter - prise had domestic sales in the preceding fiscal year exceeding NTD20 billion (up from NTD15 billion), and the enterprise with which it is merg - ing had domestic sales exceeding NTD3 billion (up from NTD2 billion). • Financial institutions: One participating enterprise had domestic sales in the preceding fiscal year exceeding NTD40 billion (up from NTD30 billion), and the enterprise with which it is merging had domestic sales exceeding NTD3 billion (up from NTD2 billion). In addition, in alignment with the Financial Supervi - sory Commission’s amendments to the relevant regu - lations, the basis for calculating the sales volume of the insurance industry has changed from “total oper - ating revenue” to the “sum of insurance revenue, net investment income/loss, asset management service revenue, and other operating revenue”, ensuring con - sistency across regulations. Recent decision by TFTC regarding merger control The landscape of merger control in Taiwan throughout 2025 reflected a sophisticated regulatory environment characterised by strategic consolidation in the finan - cial sector. A defining moment was the TFTC approv - al of the landmark merger between Taishin Financial Holding and Shinkong Financial Holding in early Jan - uary. In granting unconditional clearance, the TFTC determined that the transaction would not signifi - cantly impede competition, as the combined market shares in key segments like banking and life insurance remained well below the 15% threshold. This decision underscores a regulatory willingness to permit large- scale horizontal integration within the financial indus - try, provided that the post-merger market structure
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