The finance ministry has urged caution over the follow-up to Taiwan's offshore fund repatriation measure, known as repatriation 2.0, effectively braking the fundraising component of the Asian asset management centre plan.

Repatriation measures use tax incentives to bring citizens' and companies' overseas funds back home. Taiwan has implemented a similar scheme before.

The ministry's concerns are reported to run in three directions: tax fairness, verification of the source of funds and anti-money-laundering requirements, and the possibility that returning money flows into property and other asset markets rather than productive investment.

The last point goes to the purpose of the policy. If the aim is not bringing money in as such but converting it into industrial investment, commentators argue that restrictions on use are needed.

The Asian asset management hub plan seeks to draw some of the wealth management functions concentrated in Hong Kong and Singapore to Taiwan. It is classed as a long-term task requiring tax rules, regulation, staffing and financial infrastructure together.

For Taiwanese business owners among Sinophone residents in Korea this is a practical matter. If the measure proceeds, the treatment and tax burden of funds held abroad would change, so the final text is worth watching.

What is settled now is that the ministry has raised objections. Whether the plan is shelved or revised and pursued again depends on the outcome of further consultation.