The Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (上海商銀) appeared to have outperformed most of its financial peers, including 14 mega bank rivals, by announcing yesterday the highest bank cash dividend of NT$1.1 per share and a stock dividend of NT$0.4 per share.
“Amid the recent financial crisis, we did pretty well last year and decided to reward [investors] with dividends, which few financial rivals are paying this year,” bank chairman Yung Hung-ching (榮鴻慶) told a shareholders’ meeting yesterday.
The bank yesterday reported NT$5.46 billion (US$162 million) in after-tax income, or NT$2.32 per share — one of the best performances in the sector.
For the first quarter of this year, the bank reported a worse-than-expected after-tax earnings of NT$1.24 billion, or NT$0.53 per share, as a result of narrowed net interest margin and a declining wealth management business, the bank’s statement said.
Yung, who was re-elected as bank chairman, vowed yesterday to accelerate plans to branch into China by upgrading its liaison office in Suzhou into a branch once a cross-strait memorandum of understanding (MOU) is inked.
Meanwhile, Cosmos Bank Taiwan (萬泰銀行) yesterday decided to pay no dividends this year, its exchange filing said yesterday.
For the first time since its founding in 2001, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) recently also said it would not pay a dividend for this year, followed by seven other financial holding companies including Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控).
Among the remaining rivals, Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控), First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) and Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) paid combined dividends of NT$1, NT$0.75 and NT$0.5 respectively.
E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) announced it would pay a stock dividend of NT$0.3 while Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) and Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) pay a cash dividend of NT$0.25 and NT$0.18 respectively.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), yesterday said it has signed an agreement with Innolux Corp (群創) to acquire the flat-panel display maker’s plant in Tainan for NT$17.14 billion (US$530.6 million) amid supply constraints of its advanced packaging capacity constraints. TSMC plans to use the plant, including buildings and manufacturing facilities, for future operations, the world’s biggest foundry service provider said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The chipmaker did not elaborate on whether it would convert the plant into a new panel-level packaging factory, or expand its advanced packaging chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) capacity. The chipmaker "is working whatever it
The world’s biggest steel producer sounded the alarm about a crisis in China that carries the potential to send global shock waves, warning of a deeper industry downturn than major events in 2008 and 2015. Conditions in China are like a “harsh winter” that would be “longer, colder and more difficult to endure than we expected,” China Baowu Steel Group Corp (寶武鋼鐵集團) chairman Hu Wangming (胡望明) told staff at the company’s half-year meeting. For commodities including steel, the warning from Baowu underscores risks to demand and prices, as well as what ArcelorMittal SA, the No. 2 firm in the industry, called an
As monsoon rains were about to break over Pakistan, 14-year-old Shamila and her 13-year-old sister Amina were married off in exchange for money, a decision their parents made to help the family survive the threat of floods. “I was happy to hear I was getting married... I thought my life would become easier,” Shamila said after her wedding to a man twice her age in hope of a more prosperous life. “But I have nothing more, and with the rain, I fear I will have even less, if that is possible.” Pakistan’s high rate of marriages for underage girls had been inching
PRIVACY: Pixels with AI capabilities raise questions about how personal data are being protected, but Google said no sensitive information is sent off the devices Tech giant Google on Tuesday unveiled its new Pixel 9 smartphone series, which includes artificial intelligence (AI) technology, announcing that they would hit Taiwan shelves on Thursday next week. The Pixel 9 series could help consumers better envision the potential of artificial intelligence, analysts said. The phones are also expected to boost Google’s competitiveness against Apple Inc, which has teamed up with OpenAI to develop AI applications for iPhones, they said. The Pixel weaves users more tightly into Google’s online services, taking a page from Apple’s strategy with the iPhone and App Store. The Pixel 9 models use Google’s Gemini AI capabilities, offering