State-run Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (CHB, 彰化銀行) expects to achieve record high earnings this year after net profit last quarter spiked 45.21 percent year-on-year to NT$3.45 billion (US$112.55 million), due to widening interest rate gaps between the New Taiwan dollar and the greenback.
The bank’s first-quarter results translated into earnings per share of NT$0.33, with the bad loan ratio standing at 0.18 percent and the coverage ratio at 693.87 percent, company data showed.
“Profitability enhancement tops CHB’s business development without compromising its asset quality,” CHB president Chou Chao-chung (周朝崇) told an online investors’ conference.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The goal is achievable judging by profit and asset quality indicators, Chou said.
The lender would seek to raise profit contributions from overseas branches, diversify their sources of income and strengthen their competitiveness against local peers in foreign markets, he said.
CHB would also enhance its wealth management business and customer satisfaction by expanding staff numbers, building flagship wealth management branches, and introducing more financial and investment products and services, Chou said.
The bank would aim to make use of its investment funds, increase holdings in stocks with high dividends, and closely track their prices and movements, he said.
CHB attributed its impressive first-quarter performance to trading incomes that soared 285.78 percent year-on-year, double-digit growth in foreign currency deposits and a 30 percent gain in overseas lending.
Drastic advances in foreign-currency deposits and financing activity, especially in the US and Europe, lent support to CHB’s core operations, officials said.
Profit momentum would be sustained for the rest of this year as interest rate differences between the greenback and NT dollar remain large, officials said.
At the same time, CHB would increase lending with borrowers involved in the development of green energy in line with government policy, they added.
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