Strong opposition by the three banks' employees coupled with a feasibility report on the merger produced last June has slowed the process. The report said the banks should be incorporated prior to the merger. The ministry has also been encouraging a merger between 12 state-controlled banks. However, because most the 12 have been privatized, with some even becoming listed, such a merge has proven to be too difficult to carry out. After the holding law is passed, the ministry could set up a financial holding company to oversee the merger, or it could even transform one the three banks into a holding company and then combine the various business sections under the holding company.
Officials believe that the businesses of three banks are somewhat complementary.
The Bank of Taiwan, for example, is more inclined toward commercial banking. Meanwhile, the Land Bank is concentrated on real-estate services and the Central Trust of China has a wide range of banking services. During a meeting of the Executive Yuan's economic task force on Friday, Lai said that the draft should be complete by mid-March. Because various government ministries have been unable to agree on the draft, only four articles out of a total of 61 have been completed. The draft will then be submitted to the Legislative Yuan.