The much-talked about cross-strait financial MOU -- which will outline financial regulatory systems to pave the way for Taiwan and China to reciprocally approve operations by their financial institutions -- may be finalized sometime this month, KMT Legislator Alex Fai said.

The Cabinet-level Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) will not be the sole deal broker on the Taiwan side, he added.

"The National Security Council and the Mainland Affairs Council are also expected to play key roles in the signing of the MOU, " Fai disclosed.

Fai, convener of the Legislative Yuan Finance Committee, said KMT lawmakers, particularly members of the Finance Committee, have been supportive of the proposed MOU because it will allow Taiwanese banks to expand loan and insurance services on the Chinese mainland.

Unlike the proposed cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) , it will not adversely affect domestic industries, he said.

Vice Premier Eric Liluan Chu said on Friday that a breakthrough in the cross-strait talks on the financial MOU would be come "in the next two days," a statement that drove up the Taiwan bourse more than 100 points in the first half of that day's trading session.

Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Chen Shu-hui, who recently traveled to China to assess the progress of the MOU talks, said she will ask FSC officials Monday on when and where exactly the MOU will be signed, in light of the vice premier's statement on an imminent breakthrough in the talks.

According to Chiang Pin-kung, Taiwan's top negotiator with China in the absence of official ties, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have almost concluded the negotiations on the details of the MOU.

Meanwhile, China's top official in charge of Taiwan affairs Wang Yi said in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province Sunday that "we are ready to sign the MOU." Commenting on speculations that Taiwan's FSC Chairman Sean Chen had been scheduled to fly to Beijing Friday for the signing of the cross-strait financial MOU, Wang said he had no knowledge of that.

(By Chou Yung-chieh, Kuo Mei-lan and Deborah Kuo)