TWSE Market Insights

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Under the context of a highly integrated global financial system, a city’s financial competitiveness has become a vital metric for gauging economic development and international connectivity. The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), compiled by the British think tank Z/Yen Group, utilizes "cities" (such as New York and Tokyo) as its primary units of analysis, rather than focusing on entire nations. According to official GFCI research reports, Taiwan was incorporated into the evaluation scope starting in March 2009 (GFCI 5), with Taipei being designated as the representative city for subsequent data tracking and assessment.

The GFCI assessment framework is built upon a "Factor Assessment Model," which synthesizes subjective survey results with various objective quantitative indicators. This model incorporates machine learning methods to mitigate potential biases stemming from single indicators or weight settings, thereby enhancing the overall consistency and explanatory power of the results.

Business Environment：The business environment serves as a critical foundation for financial activities, encompassing factors such as political stability, legal and regulatory frameworks, tax structures, and overall macroeconomic conditions. A transparent and predictable legal and regulatory environment helps reduce market uncertainty and increases the willingness of international financial institutions to establish and operate presence. Furthermore, the competitiveness of operating costs and tax structures influences financial institutions' evaluations regarding capital allocation and business layout. A relatively stable political and policy environment supports long-term investment and the sustainable development of financial markets, providing a degree of institutional support when facing external shocks.

Human Capital：The financial industry is a highly knowledge-intensive sector; therefore, the quality and supply of human capital have a decisive impact on the development of a financial center. This dimension primarily assesses the availability of professional financial talent, labor market flexibility, the comprehensiveness of education and training systems, and the overall livability and attractiveness of the city. Talent possessing professional expertise and international experience helps improve the quality of financial services and promotes the development of products and business models. Additionally, a living and working environment that is relatively friendly to foreign professionals helps attract and retain multinational financial talent.

Infrastructure：The effective operation of financial markets relies on the support of comprehensive infrastructure. In addition to evaluating traditional facilities such as office space, transportation, and logistics systems, this dimension emphasizes the development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) environments and digital infrastructure. As the digitalization of financial activities increases, a stable and efficient digital environment has become an essential condition for supporting FinTech, digital payments, and online financial services. Furthermore, a city's performance in sustainable development and environmental governance—such as green building and energy efficiency—is increasingly incorporated into the evaluation of a financial center’s overall physical conditions.

Financial Sector Development：The financial development dimension primarily reflects the scale, structure, and maturity of the financial industry. Relevant indicators include the depth and liquidity of capital markets, the degree of clustering of financial institutions and related industries, and the financial sector's contribution to the overall economy. A market equipped with diverse financial instruments and fundraising channels is better able to meet the funding needs of different industries and business sizes while maintaining basic operational stability during periods of market volatility. The level of market liquidity is also a key consideration for international investment institutions when evaluating investment and transaction costs.

Reputation：City reputation reflects the recognition and image of a financial center within international markets, covering international ratings, innovation performance, cultural appeal, and the degree of connectivity with other major financial centers. A strong international reputation helps enhance market participants' trust in the city's financial environment and promotes cross-border financial activities and business cooperation. In an era of highly fluid global financial information, establishing a clear and consistent city image has become a vital task for financial centers seeking to strengthen their international visibility and competitive positioning.

Synthesizing Taiwan’s historical performance in The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), its development trajectory has generally remained relatively stable, with a clear upward trend emerging in recent years. During the mid-2010s, Taiwan maintained a consistent competitive standing within the index. Subsequently, as the center of gravity for financial activities in the Asia-Pacific region continued to shift and multiple regional financial centers accelerated their development, the overall competitive landscape intensified, placing adjustment pressure on Taiwan’s relative ranking. Around 2020, the rankings experienced more pronounced volatility, influenced by shifts in the global financial market environment and adjustments to the GFCI's evaluation framework and methodology.

Recent changes in rankings indicate that Taiwan’s relative position in the global financial assessment has improved. According to the GFCI 38 report released in September 2025, Taiwan’s global ranking rose from 70th in the previous edition to 55th, a significant single-period climb of 15 places, representing its most representative progress in recent years. In a regional comparison across the Asia-Pacific, while Hong Kong and Singapore maintain their leading positions, Taiwan’s recent ranking movements demonstrate structural adjustment achievements in its financial environment and market foundations. This reflects a gradual enhancement of its visibility and relative competitive standing within the regional financial system.

To facilitate subsequent policy planning and the formulation of promotional strategies, it is necessary to conduct a systematic inventory and analysis of Taiwan’s internal conditions and external environment as a financial center. Regarding strengths, Taiwan has long maintained a relatively stable political environment and a robust legal foundation, which provide the institutional certainty and operational predictability required for financial activities. In specific financial sectors, including the insurance industry and securities trading markets, Taiwan has established a market base of significant scale and depth, with increasingly mature institutional operations. Furthermore, Taiwan’s existing advantages in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and tech sectors, if further integrated with financial services and innovative applications, will help support the development of FinTech-related businesses and create differentiated competitive conditions. Additionally, the confidence shown by domestic financial practitioners in the future of Taiwan’s financial development serves as an internal pillar for institutional adjustments and policy implementation.

On the path of continuous development, several aspects of the Taiwan financial center still have room for further strengthening. Based on the subjective scoring results of The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), the brand recognition of Taiwan within the international financial community is not yet fully reflected in its overall evaluation performance. Moreover, the scope of some international indices has not yet covered Taiwan; for instance, the Global Green Finance Index (GGFI) has not included Taiwan in past evaluations, making it difficult for Taiwan’s sustainable finance policies and market achievements to be represented through international benchmarking. In the realm of high-end financial services, compared to a few mature tier-one financial centers, Taiwan is still in a stage of continuous accumulation and deepening, indicating further potential for market expansion.

Regarding external opportunities and challenges, the global financial system is continuously moving toward digitalization and sustainable transformation—trends that highly align with Taiwan’s existing technological foundation and policy directions. By strengthening FinTech applications and promoting sustainable finance institutions and market development, Taiwan has the opportunity to improve its relative performance in the GFCI and its related sub-indices. Furthermore, shifts in the regional financial landscape provide potential opportunities to attract international asset management firms and professional talent. At the same time, however, other financial centers within the Asia-Pacific region—including major ASEAN cities, Japan, and South Korea—have been actively promoting financial reforms and market opening measures in recent years, intensifying regional competition. Additionally, with the frequent global mobility of financial professionals, various countries have prioritized talent recruitment and retention as key policy issues. Under these circumstances, if the pace of institutional adjustment and international integration fails to persist, it may impact Taiwan’s relative positioning within the regional financial system, highlighting the necessity of continuously deepening reforms and enhancing international attractiveness.

Taiwan exhibits a "indicator gap" within the GFCI assessment; its performance in "subjective evaluations" from international expert surveys is excellent, reflecting that its market potential is recognized by the international community. However, because the GFCI’s internal objective model lacks data collection across several key international indicators, Taiwan’s "objective indicators" often rank behind 70th place, which suppresses the overall composite ranking. Despite this, Taiwan remains highly competitive in other authoritative international ratings. The key to improving its future ranking lies in strengthening data synchronization with international rating agencies to ensure that Taiwan’s quantitative performance in sustainable finance and economic strength is accurately reflected in the GFCI model, thereby narrowing the gap between subjective and objective evaluations.

The aforementioned situation can be further corroborated by other major international competitiveness indicators. In recent years, Taiwan ranked 6th globally in the World Competitiveness Yearbook published by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and 5th globally in the Index of Economic Freedom published by The Heritage Foundation. This indicates a robust foundation in areas such as overall economic operational efficiency, institutional openness, and the legal environment. Furthermore, Taiwan's capital market has long maintained considerable scale and depth. As of the end of 2025, the total market capitalization of the centralized market reached approximately NT$94 trillion, representing a growth of about 27% over the previous year. Meanwhile, market liquidity remained stable, with a daily average trading value of approximately NT$416 billion in 2025, reflecting investor participation and the maturity of market mechanisms.

In recent results from The Global Financial Centres Index, Taiwan's relative performance has shown concrete improvement. According to the GFCI 38 report released in September 2025, Taiwan's global ranking rose from 70th in the previous edition to 55th, a single-period climb of 15 places. This shows that adjustments to its market conditions and institutional environment are gradually being reflected in international rating results. However, overall, a gap still exists between the economic strength, institutional quality, and capital market performance presented by the aforementioned objective indicators and the composite GFCI ranking. This suggests that the level of recognition for Taiwan within the international financial community does not yet fully correspond to its substantive conditions.

Based on this analysis, the focus for continuously improving GFCI rankings in the future—beyond significant adjustments to existing systems, regulations, or infrastructure—should involve systematic external communication, international connectivity, and information transmission mechanisms. These efforts will enhance the international financial professional community's understanding and grasp of Taiwan's financial systems, market operations, and policy directions, allowing objective conditions to be more fully reflected in subjective evaluations. In this context, strengthening international visibility and deepening interaction with international financial institutions and professional communities will be vital directions for subsequent policy efforts. This also represents a key role that the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) can continue to play in the upcoming stages.

Table 1

Index	Publishing Organization	Latest Ranking	Description
IMD World Competitiveness Ranking	International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Switzerland	6th globally (2025)	Evaluation covers four major dimensions: Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency, and Infrastructure.
Index of Economic Freedom	The Heritage Foundation, USA	5th globally (2026)	Assessment based on 4 pillars—Rule of Law, Government Size, Regulatory Efficiency, and Market Openness—comprising 12 indicators.
Taiwan Stock Market Total Market Capitalization	MarketCap Watch	7th globally (End of Feb 2026)	The total market capitalization of Taiwan's capital market exceeded NT$123 trillion as of February 2026.

Observations of the sub-category ratings in The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) reveal that Taiwan has long maintained a relatively stable and competitive performance in the FinTech dimension. Its ranking in this category significantly outperforms its overall composite ranking, indicating that Taiwan’s achievements in digital financial innovation have gradually gained recognition from the international financial professional community. This performance reflects the foundational conditions Taiwan has accumulated in technology and engineering talent cultivation, information and communications infrastructure, and an environment for innovative applications. These factors provide a relatively advantageous base for the implementation of technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and big data analysis within the financial services sector.

In terms of policy and institutional frameworks, the government has continuously promoted the digital transformation of finance and industry in recent years. Through mechanisms such as the Financial Regulatory Sandbox and policy initiatives like "Asia · Silicon Valley," it has facilitated cross-sector collaboration between financial institutions and the technology industry, assisting innovative applications in testing and implementation within controlled environments. Furthermore, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) has enhanced market transparency and information delivery efficiency by establishing one-stop market information platforms like Investment InfoHub. By combining data visualization with digital tools, these platforms improve the real-time nature and readability of market disclosures, providing a supportive effect in shaping a financial center image characterized by digital maturity.

Beyond digital financial development, Sustainable Finance and the Green Economy have gradually become key directions for Taiwan's capital market to align with international standards. In recent years, Taiwan has continuously promoted a sustainable information disclosure system that interfaces with international practices, guiding listed companies in the preparation of sustainability reports and aligning with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S1 and S2 Sustainability Disclosure Standards. This improves the comparability and transparency of sustainability information and assists international investors in evaluating corporate long-term resilience and development potential under consistent standards. In terms of green financial products, the issuance scale of green bonds and the market development of sustainability-linked financial products in Taiwan have shown a steady growth trend. Simultaneously, by establishing the ESG InfoHub platform, the TWSE integrates sustainability-related information of listed companies, providing market participants with a centralized and convenient inquiry channel. These actions not only respond to global climate change governance and sustainable development trends but also help enhance Taiwan's overall ratings in the Infrastructure and Reputation dimensions of the GFCI.

To address the continuous evolution of the global financial system and changing regional competitive dynamics, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) has systematically promoted international communication, global exchange, and brand deepening from a medium-to-long-term perspective. These efforts aim to strengthen the global financial community’s understanding of Taiwan’s market institutional characteristics, development direction, and policy substance. The core strategy centers on positioning Taiwan as an "Asian Asset Management Hub," leveraging existing institutional foundations and industrial advantages while establishing closer partnerships with influential international financial research and rating agencies to expand Taiwan's participation and visibility.

At the implementation level, the TWSE facilitates substantive interaction with international investors and asset management firms through integrated events such as "Taiwan Weeks." Furthermore, it has deepened its partnership with the Z/Yen Group, the compiler of The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), by officially becoming a Platinum Member. This institutional link enhances Taiwan’s engagement and visibility within the GFCI research network and the international professional community, fostering a deeper understanding of Taiwan’s financial development and promoting a two-way exchange between policy concepts and market practices.

Simultaneously, the TWSE continues to strengthen ties with international exchanges and financial institutions by participating in and hosting international forums, professional conferences, and institutional dialogues. These mechanisms help accumulate long-term international trust and reinforce Taiwan’s connectivity within regional and global financial networks. Notably, in 2026, the TWSE collaborated with the Z/Yen Group to co-host an online webinar, further increasing the recognition of Taiwan’s capital market.

In response to the accelerating integration of global finance and industry, the TWSE actively combines Taiwan’s internationally competitive technology sector advantages to promote global dialogue between the capital market and the tech industry. This allows international investors to more comprehensively grasp Taiwan’s industrial structure, innovation momentum, and the supportive functions of its capital market, thereby increasing Taiwan’s profile within global investment and technology communities.

Regarding international institutional connectivity, the TWSE remains active in multilateral organizations such as the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), the Asian and Oceanian Stock Exchanges Federation (AOSEF), and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). By sharing institutional experiences and participating in policy dialogues and governance discussions, the TWSE improves the overall international assessment of Taiwan’s market operational models, regulatory frameworks, and governance quality. These actions not only deepen mutual institutional trust but also enhance Taiwan’s participation in global financial standards and market development issues.

In summary, through consistent and targeted international exchange, institutional dialogue, and communication strategies—combined with deep cooperation with the GFCI’s compiling body—the TWSE has gradually increased the familiarity and positive perception of Taiwan’s capital market among the international financial community. Given that international visibility and market prominence are crucial dimensions of the GFCI assessment, these strategic actions have established a solid and sustainable institutional foundation for strengthening Taiwan’s presence in the global financial system and improving its future GFCI rankings.