An applicant for authorization must complete a formal process to apply for prior approval and obtain an establishment permit. After incorporation but before the commencement of business, an applicant must apply for a business license from the FSC. Also, in order to meet the capital requirements, an applicant must apply for an injection of capital to invest in Taiwan and after the capital injection, it is also required to apply for verification of such investment with the Department of Investment Review (DIR), Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA)

The time frame within which to obtain approvals and of commencement of business is on a case-by-case basis. For instance, it may take about two months for the FSC to determine whether or not to approve the application of establishment of a securities firm, one month for the DIR to approve the injection of capital, and one month for the FSC to issue a business license for a securities firm.

For an onshore commercial bank, the following are required to be completed:

•  Prior approval – To establish an onshore commercial bank in Taiwan, the applicants (e.g., the promoters of the bank) must submit the following information before incorporation:
  • Application form for establishment permit
  • Business plan: The business scope, the principles and guidelines of the business operation and the concrete method to carry out the business (including the location of facility, the division of the internal organization, the employment and training of personnel, the business development plan and the financial forecast for the next three years), etc.
  • The list of promoters and their certifications
  • Self-assessment form for promoters from financial industry meeting requirements of investments-related regulations
  • The application forms stipulated in paragraph 6 of Article 25 of the Banking Act for the same person or the same interested parties who have more than 10% of the shares concerning promoters who are from non-financial industry
  • The minutes of the promoters’ meeting
  • Written declaration of the promoters stating that none of the circumstances listed in Article 3 of the "Regulations Governing Qualification Requirements and Concurrent Serving Restrictions and Matters for Compliance by the Responsible Persons of Banks" apply to them
  • Certification that the promoters have already deposited capital of at least TWD 2 billion
  • Description of promoters’ fund source/s
  • Articles of public offering
  • Certification of qualifications of the president, vice president and assistant vice president
  • Articles of incorporation of the bank
  • Auditing the opinions of a certified public accountant and lawyer
  • Other documents required by the competent authority
• Incorporation and registration – Upon receiving approval from the FSC, the promoters shall then incorporate the onshore commercial bank by filing a company registration application with the MOEA. When applying for company registration, an application together with a complete set of the documents as required must be filed with the MOEA. The minimum paid-in capital of an onshore commercial bank is TWD 10 billion.
• Capital injection – To inject capital to invest in the contemplated bank, the applicants must submit the following information:
  • Application form for investment
  • Identification information of the applicant
  • Information of the invested enterprise (i.e., the contemplated bank)
  • Minutes of a board or shareholders’ meeting
  • Other supporting documents as required
• Banking business license – After incorporation but before the commencement of a banking business, an onshore commercial bank must apply for a banking business license from the FSC by submitting the following supporting documents:

• Application form for a banking business license
• Certificate of company registration
• Statement of capital verification
• Articles of Incorporation of the bank
• Minutes of the promoters’ meeting
• Shareholders’ roster and minutes of shareholders’ meetings
• Directors’ roster and minutes of board meetings
• Managing directors’ roster and minutes of their meetings
• Supervisors’ roster and minutes of their meetings
• Managerial officers’ roster
• Internal rules and guidelines as well as business procedures
• Declaration statements of directors, supervisors and managerial officers
• A record of simulated business operation for two weeks or more

The FSC shall approve the scope of business of each onshore commercial bank in accordance with the type of bank and the business items provided under the Banking Act. However, the business items related to foreign exchange must be approved by the CBC. An onshore commercial bank's business items will be provided in its banking business license granted by the FSC. On 7 August 2020, the FSC activated a new business item by enforcing regulations enabling an onshore commercial bank’s domestic banking unit (DBU) to provide specific financial products or investment services to its high-net-worth clients, such as foreign-currency-denominated structured notes or other indices in the local equity market that used to be open to its offshore banking unit (OBU) alone as such investments are considered riskier. The term "high net worth client" refers to any individual or juristic person that: (1) provides a certificate of account balance that shows the net worth of investable assets and insurance products is equivalent to TWD 100 million or above; or (2) has investable assets worth more than TWD 30 million in the said bank’s account and provides a declaration that the net worth of investable assets and insurance products is equivalent to TWD 100 million or above. In deploying the new wealth management rules, Taiwan is attempting to position itself as the rising Asian financial hub to seize potential capital outflows, particularly from Hong Kong, and compete with Singapore. As of March 2024, the FSC has granted 11 banks permission to launch this special wealth management program, and the total amount of assets under management (AUM) of these high-net-worth clients is approximately TWD 880.8 billion.

As for fintech, on 14 November 2018, the FSC made amendments to two regulations, allowing the establishment of virtual banks to encourage financial innovation and to enhance financial inclusion. As of March 2024, the FSC has granted licenses to three virtual banks. Furthermore, the Financial Technology Development and Innovative Experimentation Act and related regulations enable enterprises to launch and test their innovative digital technology or business models in regulatory sandboxes under the FSC's supervision.