Taiwan's parliament approves mainland trade deal

Taiwan’s parliament has approved a trade pact with the mainland that will reduce tariffs on hundreds of products and deepen economic ties between the two sides, the Wall Street Journal reported. Even though opposition lawmakers argued against the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) – claiming that it will take away local low-income jobs and that it supports Beijing’s political aim of reunification – a rejection of the pact was unlikely. A government think tank believes that the ECFA could boost the island’s GDP growth by 1.65-1.72 percentage points and create 257,000-263,000 new jobs. Taiwan Cooperative Bank (5854.TW) said Wednesday that it is in talks with four mainland banks on strategic cooperation, while SinoPac Securities has signed a business information exchange agreement with the mainland’s Guosen Securities. Chinatrust Financial Holding and Taishin Financial Holding (2887.TW) have also said they plan on expanding into the mainland.