Taiwan, US, Hong Kong, and Singapore Association Announced International IR Cooperation

Taiwan Investor Relations Institute (TIRI) has held an annual conference recently. Distinguished guests in domestic and international capital markets were invited and attended the conference, including Eva Chan, Chairman of Hong Kong Investor Relations Association (HKIRA), Harold Woo, Chairman of Investor Relations Professionals Association (Singapore) (IRPAS), Wellington Koo, Chairman of Financial Supervisory Commission R.O.C. (Taiwan) (FSC), Lih-chung Chien, General Manager of Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSC), and Ai-ling Li, General Manager of Taipei Exchange. Through a video clip across the ocean, the CEO of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), Gary A. LaBranche, also announced a cooperation project with TIRI, with which the two institutes will jointly establish an Investor Relations (IR) international resource platform.

TIRI was established to serve as a professional communication platform for the management teams, shareholders, securities analysts, capital markets, and governing agencies that work with listed companies at stock exchanges, over-the-counter markets, IPO, and Incubation Board for Startup and Acceleration Firms (GISA). TIRI seeks to advance IR practices in Taiwan and the professional capacity and positioning of our members, as well as to strengthen integration with international capital markets. Over the year since the establishment, TIRI has organized more than 70 professional courses and forums for directors, supervisors, IROs (investor relations officer), and accounting supervisors. Also regularly share IR expertise through TWSE's bimonthly securities journals, accounting journals, and domestic mainstream financial media. Also, TIRI launched a cooperation project with TWSE targeting at the enhancement of Taiwan stock trading volume, and provided international banks developing in Taiwan with professional training services. TIRI has gained fruitful achievements in assisting IR profession promotion and integrating Taiwan's capital market with the world.

The Chairman of TIRI, Fu-fu Shen, indicated that the institute is pleased to cooperate with NIRI, HRIRA, and IRPAS for increasing the chances of Taiwan's capital market integration, sharing IR expertise with the world, and jointly building an all-round international exchange platform. In the future, HKIRA and IRPAS can offer TIRI members advice or assistance for capital market activities in Asia Pacific countries. To improve the internationalization of IR profession, TIRI reached strategic cooperation with NIRI at the conference, making TIRI a partner for NIRI's Investor Relations Charter (IRC) and online IR courses in Asia Pacific region. The future IR courses held by TIRI can be transferred as IRC course credits.

Johnny Kuo, Vice Chairman of TIRI, said, a good IR can strengthen the investor portfolio of a company, assist corporates with stable management rights, and maintain a long-term and reasonable market value, which in turn will maximize the shareholders' value. Tom Huang, the IR Senior Manager at BizLink Holding Inc. (stock code: 3665.TT) and the director of TIRI, recently won two awards from IR Magazine -- Best in Sector: Technology and Best in Region: Taiwan. As the operation of the company grew, BizLink continued to maintain good communication with investors and establish a good IR mechanism. Consequently, the foreign shareholdings increased, and the reasonable market value of the company was maintained, making BizLink a model for IR management.

During the forum "IR Practices in 2020" held at this year's annual conference, TIRI's Honorary Chairman Elizabeth Sun and Chairman Fu-fu Shen, HKIRA's Chairman Eva Chan, and IRPAS' Chairman Harold Woo discussed and shared IR practices in different capital markets. The most popular issues included Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) management strategies for corporate sustainability and the influences on corporates' management of capital markets and market value after Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) took effect. With the internationalization of the capital market, to enhance the future market value of companies, optimize the investor portfolio, and maximize shareholders' value, it is necessary to pay attention to IR and to face the challenges from the capital market in a dedicated and professional manner.