Taiwan Stock Exchange Chairman Schive Chi said mainland companies may list on the island as early as next year as the two sides move ahead with plans for closer financial ties.

The plan depends on completion of an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in the cross-Straits talks scheduled to start this month and would be a "good opportunity" for mainland companies, Schive said in a telephone interview in Taipei yesterday.

The mainland and Taiwan last month agreed to boost access to each other's banks, insurers and brokerages.

The Taiwan exchange would advance its ambition of becoming an international fund-raising center while widening options for the island's investors. Mainland companies would gain access to a $612 billion stock market to help finance expansion in the island of 23 million people.

"When the ECFA is signed with the mainland next year, it will be a good opportunity for mainland firms to list in Taiwan and we aim for that to happen in the next year," Schive said.

Cross-Straits relations have warmed since Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou took office in May 2008.

Taiwan's benchmark Taiex stock index rose the most since 1991 on April 30 after the island allowed mainland investments for the first time. The measure has risen 69 percent this year, heading for its best annual performance in 16 years. It fell 0.1 percent yesterday to 7768.71.

"There will be more choices for Taiwan investors and this will also be beneficial for Taiwan to develop as a financial center," said Parker Wu, who helps oversee the equivalent of $44 million at the Agriculture Bank of Taiwan.

"Investors can take their pick of shares in Taiwan without needing to go to other markets and the Taiex will become more appealing."

The island aims to sign a trade accord with the mainland by May to boost economic growth, the island's "economics affairs minister" Shih Yen-shiang said on Sept 16. The island intends to sign deals with the mainland on tariff reduction and cross-Straits investments, the Straits Exchange Foundation said on Oct 14.

Taiwan estimates the accord would create 273,000 jobs and bolster exports. It may boost economic growth by between 1.65 percent and 1.72 percent, Yiin Chii-ming, the island's former "economic affairs minister", said in July.