Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) yesterday launched a new overseas unit in Sydney, Australia, in a bid to gain further momentum in markets targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy.
Although it is not a branch, but a sales office, it can provide Australian and Taiwanese companies operating in the country with its analysis of market conditions and through its connections with other Taipei Fubon Bank branches, the bank said.
The newly launched unit would not only help existing clients in Australia receive funding or improve financial flexibility, but also offer consulting services for companies that are interested in expanding into Australia, it said.
It would also collaborate with financial agencies in Australia to provide services to its clients, it added.
The unit is the fourth Taipei Fubon Bank operation to be set up in a country targeted by the New Southbound Policy, after the establishment of branches or offices in Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia since 2008, company data showed.
Taipei Fubon Bank said it is optimistic about its prospects as the Australian economy, the 13th-largest in the world, was among few with “AAA” sovereign credit ratings by Moody’s, Fitch and S&P Global Ratings, the bank said in a statement.
Australia’s GDP grew 1.8 percent annually in the first quarter and had recovered to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level, the bank added.
Overall, the bank believes that New Southbound Policy countries would see strong business momentum this year after being beaten by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, aided by rising vaccination coverage and the easing of pandemic measures, it said.
“Our three branches in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Hanoi saw double-digit growth rates in deposits and loans in the first six months of the year, while deposits in our Singapore branch expanded 70 percent annually,” it said.
“That signaled an economic recovery,” it said.
With the addition of the unit in Australia, Taipei Fubon Bank now has 34 overseas units, it said.
About 10 local banks operate branches in Australia, but most of them are state-run lenders such as Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) and Taiwan Business Bank (台企銀).
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such
RSS