E. Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) yesterday inked a deal to buy Chiayi Fourth Credit Cooperative Association (嘉義第四信用合作社) for NT$110 million (US$3.72 million) to expand its service network, customer base and earnings, the company said in a stock filing.
The expansion move came less than a year after the financial service provider acquired Chu Nan Credit-Cooperative Association (竹南信用合作社) to lift its standing in Taiwan’s overcrowded and fragmented market.
The acquisition, which still needs approval from the companies’ respective shareholders and the Financial Supervisory Commission, is tentatively slated to take effect on Nov. 3 this year, the filing said.
E. Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行), the surviving entity, will take over all Chiayi Credit Cooperative’s assets except for 70 pieces of real estate that the latter promised to sell by the end of October, the filing said.
E. Sun Bank, the group’s main source of income, has sought to increase its scale and become one of the top three credit card issuers this year, from fourth place after Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀), Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) and Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), E. Sun Financial president Joseph Huang (黃男州) said last month.
Unlike foreign lenders that target affluent Taiwanese, E. Sun Bank has reached out to middle-income earners.
The lender partnered with China’s leading online payment service provider, Alipay (支付寶), on Tuesday, in a joint effort to tap e-commerce opportunities across the Taiwan Strait.
Last month, it entered cooperation with US nutrition and skin-care product supplier Herbalife, after securing a credit card alliance with Carrefour Taiwan (家樂福), the largest hypermarket chain operator in Taiwan last year.
The company’s ambitions are not limited to Taiwan, as the bank’s board yesterday approved plans to sign cooperation agreements with China’s Bank of Communications Co (交通銀行) and China Merchants Bank Co (招商銀行), paving the way for its expansion in China, the parent company said in two extra filings.
In a separate filing, the board of Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), a subsidiary of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), gave its approval to plans to set up a branch in Qindao, Shandong Province, in northeastern China.
The planned new branch will strengthen Cathay United Bank’s bancassurance business, the filing said.
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