Taiwan Financial Holding Co (台灣金控), a fully state-owned financial services provider, aims to accelerate its expansion in the Asia-Pacific region and increase profit contributions from overseas operations this year, chairperson Liu Teng-cheng (劉燈城) said yesterday.
Despite lingering downside risks worldwide, the bank-oriented conglomerate is confident about growing profits this year, aided by its yuan business, after booking NT$7.31 billion (US$246.95 million) in net income last year, more than meeting its target of nearly NT$7 billion, Liu said.
The banking arm, Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), will seek to deepen its presence in China this year after setting up its first Chinese branch in Shanghai in July last year, Liu said.
Photo: CNA
The branch may apply to offer yuan products and services to Taiwanese customers based in China after proving profitable one year after its establishment, Liu said.
Yuan lending operations can help boost interest income because borrowing costs for the yuan are much higher than for the New Taiwan dollar.
Bank of Taiwan posted a net interest margin of below 1 percent last year, lagging behind the industry average of 1.5 percent, as the lender struggled to digest its loanbook totaling NT$3 trillion, the largest among domestic lenders, Liu said.
At home, Bank of Taiwan aims to build up its yuan deposits to 5 billion yuan (US$802.3 million) by the end of the year, topping the 3 billion yuan target of another state-run bank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行).
“We hope 80 percent of our [NT dollar] time deposits will switch to yuan, allowing the bank to lower its capital costs,” the official said.
Bank of Taiwan is offering an additional 50 basis points in interest rates for yuan time deposits of different durations, Liu said, adding that the bonus rises to 100 basis points for deposits in excess of 100,000 yuan.
The lender’s ambition is not limited to China, but extends to other populous cities in the region, such as Mumbai in India, Sydney in Australia and Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Liu said.
While looking to expand its business footprint, the bank is not seeking merger and acquisition opportunities, but will focus on organic growth, Liu said.
The lender yesterday set up an insurance brokerage subsidiary to diversify its product lines and promote cross-selling benefits at its 164 branches nationwide.
The insurance brokerage could quickly win the trust and acceptance of the public, because it is the only one that is 100 percent owned by the government, Liu said.
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