Will Fund Managers' Intraday Mobile Phone Ban Be Relaxed? FSC: No Proposal Received from Industry Association

According to foreign media reports, the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association is reportedly considering proposing to allow fund managers to use mobile phones and other communication devices during Taiwan stock market trading hours. In response, the FSC's Securities and Futures Bureau stated on the 23rd that it has not yet received any specific relaxation proposal from the association. If the association submits relevant recommendations, the FSC said it will maintain an open attitude without preconceived positions and welcomes industry players or foreign chambers of commerce to provide international best practices for review.

Taiwan's asset management industry has a mechanism colloquially known as the 'mobile phone farm,' established by regulators and the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association to prevent fund managers from engaging in illegal activities such as insider trading or using nominee accounts to front-run orders for personal gain.

Under current regulations, key trading personnel, including fund managers, must surrender their personal mobile phones and communication-enabled devices to their companies for centralized custody before the market opens each day and can only retrieve them after the market closes. The drawers and charging slots used for centralized storage are densely packed, resembling incubator trays in a poultry farm—hence the industry nickname 'mobile phone farm' for this internal control rule.

Although the 'mobile phone farm' rule has been in place for many years, there have been ongoing calls from external parties and industry peers arguing that such strict communication restrictions 'only deter honest people, not wrongdoers,' and may even hinder the willingness of international asset management talent to come to Taiwan. In its recently released 2026 Taiwan White Paper, the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan explicitly pointed out that such rigid restrictions on managers' personal devices are extremely rare globally and recommended abolishing the mandatory rule, allowing asset management firms to manage devices through internal control systems instead.

In response to these external and chamber recommendations, FSC officials clarified that the commission does not hold a specific opposing stance on relaxing information device controls.

Officials stated that in the past, when foreign chambers raised such suggestions, the FSC responded by encouraging industry players to submit proposals through the association, which would then collect international operational practices and submit a consolidated proposal. However, as of now, the FSC has not received any concrete proposal from the association.