At the end of last year, the nation’s 15 financial conglomerates saw their combined foreign exposure rise 2.1 percent to NT$20.89 trillion (US$738.79 billion at the current exchange rate) from NT$20.46 trillion in the third quarter, as they increased overseas equity investments amid bull markets, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) data showed.
Exposure — lending and investment — is a gauge of the firms’ financial risk, the commission said.
Overseas investment for the firms expanded 3.11 percent quarterly to NT$16.21 trillion in the fourth quarter of last year, while their unrealized gains stood at NT$284 billion, up 51 percent from a quarter earlier, FSC data showed.
The firms’ investment in the US, the largest market in terms of overseas investment, grew by NT$183 billion quarter-on-quarter to NT$5.75 trillion — the largest increase among all markets — while their unrealized gains jumped 42.5 percent to NT$145 billion, which could be attributed to US stock markets’ booming fourth quarter, the data showed.
The firms increased their investment in China by NT$142 billion to NT$1.59 trillion, the second-largest rise, while their unrealized losses improved from NT$9.2 billion in the third quarter to NT$1 billion at the end of last year, the data showed.
On a quarterly basis, their investment in South Korea increased by NT$76 billion, while investment in Australia grew by NT$35 billion and in Japan by NT$18 billion, the data showed.
Despite the political unrest in Hong Kong, the conglomerates boosted their investment in the financial hub by NT$10 billion to NT$324 billion, the data showed.
By comparison, the firms’ combined lending in overseas markets fell NT$105 billion quarterly, or 2.8 percent, to NT$3.39 trillion, which could be attributed to cautiousness on the part of their banking units after many of them had seen loans turn sour in markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
Among the top 10 markets — the US, China, the UK, Hong Kong, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Canada and the United Arab Emirates — lending by the firms fell in all 10, except for Australia, Canada and South Korea, the data showed.
China remained the firms’ largest lending market, with combined lending of NT$637 billion, down 4.5 percent from the third quarter, while lending in Hong Kong, the No. 2 market, fell 2.2 percent to NT$530 billion, the data showed.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
RSS