Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) is to give median year-end bonuses to employees equivalent to more than eight months of wages for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday after the company’s net profit hit a new high last year.
Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of the firm’s weiya (尾牙), or year-end dinner, on Saturday, Fubon Financial chairman Richard Tsai (蔡明興) said the company’s median year-end bonus this year would be higher than last year’s 7.75 months of wages.
In Taiwan, employers usually issue year-end bonuses before the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts on Jan. 25 this year and runs through Feb. 2.
Photo: An Rong Xu, Bloomberg
In a survey released earlier this month, 1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行) said employers in Taiwan are planning to give an average of 1.39 months of salary as year-end bonuses, with the financial sector expected to give 1.97 months of salary on average, topping other major business sectors.
Fubon Financial recorded NT$151.16 billion (US$4.56 billion) in net profit last year, with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$10.8, making it the most profitable financial holding firm in Taiwan in terms of EPS for the 16th consecutive year.
That came as Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) and Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) raked in record profits of NT$102.53 billion and NT$30.54 billion respectively last year.
As a result, Fubon Financial is to raise its employees’ salaries this year, after taking into account wage hikes at its peers, domestic inflation and GDP growth, Tsai said.
Last year, Fubon Financial raised wages by about 4 percent on average.
Given record profits last year, the company is likely to issue higher dividends this year, Tsai said.
Last year, it distributed cash dividends of NT$2.50 per share and stock dividends of 5 percent per share.
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