Rich people in Asia saw their assets eroded by the global financial crisis, with Taiwanese suffering losses next only to their counterparts in Singapore, an HSBC report said yesterday.
The report, which polled 1,500 people in seven countries with a monthly salary equivalent to NT$70,000 (US$2,150) and above and more than NT$3 million in liquid assets, showed that 44 percent suffered losses in the past six months because of the market turmoil.
About 51 percent of respondents in Taiwan — second only to Singapore’s 56 percent — were affected by the economic downturn, the survey conducted between April 23 and May 4 showed.
The figure ranges from 21 percent to 49 percent for China, Australia, Japan, India and Malaysia, the report said.
Betty Miao (繆莉莉), head of HSBC’s personal financial services, said the financial storm not only took a toll on personal wealth but also affected investors’ risk appetite and private consumption.
The report showed that 43 percent of rich Taiwanese traded their portfolio for cash and another 31 percent trimmed their investments over the last six months.
Only 14 percent were bold enough to raise their investments, lower than Malaysia’s 36 percent, India’s 30 percent and China’s 30 percent, the survey said.
Steve Chuang (莊懷德), senior vice president of HSBC wealth management, said it made better sense for investors to diversify their portfolio and make adjustments in phases.
Despite the market tumult, some affluent people managed to gain from their investments, the report said. About 46 percent of Chinese respondents said their wealth rose as much as 50 percent in the last six months.
The figure stood at 32 percent in Taiwan, 21 percent in Japan and 19 percent in Australia, the report said.
While uncertain about the economic outlook, many affluent people said they hoped to accumulate more wealth through different investment options, with 63 percent of Taiwanese favoring securities transactions, the report said.
FOPLP PLANS? The chipmaker said the budget was for fab construction and manufacturing facilities, but did not comment on reports of talks with Innolux Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) board of directors yesterday approved capital appropriations of US$29.62 billion to install and upgrade the firm’s chip manufacturing process technologies, as well as its advanced and mature packaging technology capacity. The capital expenditure budget would also be for fab construction and installation of manufacturing facilities, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said in a statement. TSMC did not comment on reports that it was in talks with flat-panel display maker Innolux Corp (群創) to acquire an idle plant as it prepares to convert manufacturing equipment into a new chip packaging production line that is to use fan-out
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
A boom: The airlines saw a rise in international flights and demand for cargo services, with the latter attributed to AI needs and vendors opting to have items delivered by air China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have reported their highest-ever net profit for the first half of the year amid a boom in international travel and growing demand for cargo services. The global airline industry’s momentum from last year extended into the first six months of this year. That momentum along with an increase in the number of flights supported passenger revenue growth, the two airlines said on Friday. CAL’s net profit in the first six months of this year hit a new high of NT$7.14 billion (US$220 million), resulting in earnings per share of NT$1.08, the airline
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