Taiwan Financial Holding Co (台灣金控) yesterday said that it will continue supporting the government’s policies on urban renewal projects and expanding into Southeast Asian markets this year.
Company chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) said that progress has begun in 23 urban renewal projects worth NT$23 billion (US$747 million) in loans, adding that the company is eyeing 25 prospective projects.
“Urban renewal projects are assessed on a case-by-case basis and we have not placed priority on building luxury homes,” Lyu said.
In addition to lending, the company’s urban renewal task force will work on other arrangements, such as securitization and trusts, to fund the projects as well as create other investment opportunities, Lyu said.
He said that an urban renewal project spanning more than 3,000 ping (9,917m2) near Taipei’s Yuanshan (圓山) area and another project covering 5 hectares of undeveloped land are among the largest projects the company is interested in.
Lyu said that the lender is planning open a new banking branch in Sydney, while preparations have begun to establish a representative office in Mumbai, India.
There are also plans to establish a banking branch in the Philippines, Lyu said.
The company is also planning to set up additional representative offices in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, he said.
“Representative offices will enable improved market intelligence gathering, which will speed up the progress toward establishing banking branches, and they will also help us gather feedback regarding the needs of Taiwanese companies abroad,” Lyu said.
“We are taking a slow and steady approach in international expansion, and international banks have shown a high level of interest in collaborative efforts in the Southeast Asian markets,” he said.
Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), the company’s flagship unit, posted a pre-tax profit of NT$19.38 billion for last year, setting a record for the second consecutive year.
As of the end of last year, Bank of Taiwan had a non-performing loan ratio of 0.26 percent and bad debt coverage of 552.53 percent, company data showed.
Bank Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台銀人壽), the company’s insurance arm, said that it has been assigned favorable ratings by agencies, including Standard & Poor’s and Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), despite shouldering the burden of whole-life insurance products that bears interest obligations of 6 percent amid narrowing interest spreads.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS