Intense competition in the financial sector for suitable partners and market share is spurring many of the 13 government-licensed financial holding companies (FHCs) to accelerate their start-up plans. But one pundit predicted yesterday that only three to five of them will eventually survive after consolidation in the sector is realized.
"Within the next three to five years, we are expected to see another round of consolidation among FHCs since Taiwan's market will be again over-crowded with FHCs," said Wu Tsai-yi (吳再益), director of the economics department at Taiwan Research Institute.
Following Taiwan's WTO entry, it will be an inevitable trend for Taiwan's banking sector to "team up against international competitors via strategic alliances," he said.
The government has been encouraging and licensing banks to consolidate through mergers and acquisitions. The legislature recently fast-tracked passage of related FHC laws to facilitate the move. So far, shares of five newly founded FHCs, including Cathay (國泰金控), China Development (中華開發金控), Hua Nan (華南金控), Fubon (富邦金控) and E. Sun (玉山金控), have been traded on the local stock market, while shares of Taishin FHC (台新金控) and Chiao Tung Bank FHC (交通銀行金控) are about to begin trading next month.
Among them, Taishin yesterday revealed its management strategy to assure investor confidence in the new company's future prospects. Announcing plans to be listed on Feb. 18, Taishin International Bank Chairman Thomas Wu (吳東亮) yesterday said that he estimated that the merger between his bank and Dah An Commercial Bank (大安銀行) would create an earning per share of NT$1.6 by the end of this year.
With capital of NT$45 billion, Taishin is expected to provide one-stop financial services to over 3.5 million customers at its 133 branch offices, he said yesterday, adding that the consolidation would save an estimate NT$600 million to NT$700 million per year in costs within the next three years.
Praising the bank-turned-holding-company, Wu said that the new company's non-performing loan (NPL) ratio is expected to be reduced to 2.24 percent this year and have an after-tax income of nearly NT$5 billion.
The commercial bank currently has an NPL ratio of 3.62 percent, which is estimated to increase to 5.41 percent after the merger with Dah An Commercial Bank.
Nevertheless, employees at both institutions fear massive layoffs will soon occur.
"We have no plans to streamline the holding company," Wu said. "Retraining and relocating staff, though, will take place."
Taiwan Securities Co (
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese prosecutors suspect that three people successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer Inc servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the US has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked Taiwan’s first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the US to take a more active role in curtailing
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) employee bonuses are likely to grow more than 30 percent this year, in line with the past few years as the company’s profits continue to set new records, an anonymous source cited TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) as saying yesterday. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is committed to taking care of its workers, the source said, citing Wei’s meeting with employees yesterday morning. Wei also expressed gratitude to employees for their contribution to the company’s improving bottom line, the source added. Since 2023, TSMC’s employee bonuses have grown at an annual rate of
RSS