Taiwan Financial Firms Flock to Kaohsiung Asset-Management Zone

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission and the Kaohsiung City Government launched the Kaohsiung zone of the Asian Asset Management Center on July 22, 2025, as the country’s first testing ground for wealth-management reforms. The initiative uses regulatory exemptions to bring together banks, securities firms, asset managers, advisers and insurers, with the broader aim of retaining domestic wealth, attracting overseas capital and talent, and strengthening Taiwan’s position in Asia’s asset-management market.

The FSC said on July 24, 2026 that 58 financial institutions had entered the zone and participated in 38 pilot businesses. Banks served 6,214 high-net-worth clients with NT$728.1 billion ($24.7 billion) in assets under management. Regulators plan to extend mature services, including bank-run family-office advisory operations, beyond Kaohsiung. The next phase will also allow banks to invest in foreign virtual-asset ETFs through trusts and streamline account-opening procedures across offshore banking, insurance and securities units, known as OBUs, OIUs and OSUs.

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission and the Kaohsiung City Government inaugurated the Asian Asset Management Center’s Kaohsiung pilot zone on July 22, 2025. The initiative links banking, legal, accounting and other professional services through financial-service trials and regulatory easing. Its priorities are to retain wealth held by high-net-worth clients, channel capital into industries including semiconductors, AI and electric vehicles, and narrow the financial-development gap between northern and southern Taiwan.

At the Asian Asset Management Summit on July 8, 2026, Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lo Ta-sheng said the zone had completed its first year of operation. Its family-office services had served 161 clients, with nearly NT$71.2 billion in assets under management. The next phase will support the FSC’s expansion of cross-border financial services, build a cluster of financial and professional-service providers, and steer long-term capital toward Taiwan’s emerging industries.

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission is using the Kaohsiung pilot zone to test policies for its Asian Asset Management Center initiative. Through financial-services trials, it aims to attract high-net-worth clients, family wealth management businesses and private capital. With the zone entering an evaluation phase after one year of operation, the prospects for turning trial programs into permanent services will shape the development of Taiwan's wealth management and succession-planning markets.

The FSC said family-office advisory services and innovative high-savings insurance policies are expected to formally launch in the third quarter of 2026. During the same quarter, it will also introduce three trial programs covering cross-border financial services, eased restrictions on private funds and dedicated accounts for prepaid premiums. The announcement did not disclose minimum asset or premium thresholds, and further details are still pending from the FSC.

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission is promoting wealth-management services for high-net-worth clients, encouraging domestic banks to integrate investment, trust and cross-border financial offerings. It is using the Kaohsiung Asian Asset Management Center special zone as a policy hub. Competition in Wealth Management 2.0 is intensifying with the addition of Bank of Taiwan, Taiwan Business Bank and Far Eastern International Bank, while the industry is targeting NT$3 trillion in assets under management.

In 2026, the FSC approved Bank of Taiwan, Taiwan Business Bank and Far Eastern International Bank to offer Wealth Management 2.0 services for high-net-worth clients. After securing approval, the three banks will apply to establish operations in the Kaohsiung special zone. Under current plans, the total number of banks, securities firms, insurers and other financial institutions operating in the zone could exceed 60 in 2026.

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission and the Kaohsiung City Government inaugurated the Kaohsiung Asset Management Special Zone on July 22, 2025, as the country's first pilot site for developing an Asian asset management hub. Institutions including Hua Nan Commercial Bank, Taipei Fubon Bank, First Securities Investment Trust and Nan Shan Life Insurance are piloting family-office, financial-asset portfolio financing and external asset manager services there, with the aim of retaining high-net-worth clients and their capital.

The FSC said on May 12, 2026, that the number of institutions approved to operate in the zone had risen from 50 at the outset to 56 as of the end of April. They comprised 21 banks, 16 securities investment trust and consulting firms, 13 brokerages and six insurers. As of the end of March, banks in the zone served 3,736 high-net-worth clients and had NT$455.9 billion in assets under management. They had recorded 2,314 cumulative credit drawdowns and provided family-office services to 139 families.