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Chinatrust eyes the rich

Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中國信託金控) yesterday opened its first financial management center in Taipei designed to cater to affluent Taiwanese.

"The VIP center is our first location after receiving approval from the Ministry of Finance last November," said Chen Kun-der (陳昆德), deputy general manager of Chinatrust's consumer banking group while introducing the new 400-ping, two-story banking unit complete with plush VIP rooms for personal financial consultation.

Aiming to provide one-stop financial shopping, Chen said the unit boasts 17 personal financial specialists, backed up by the bank's economic research group.

They will offer customized, one-on-one advice on financial investments including savings accounts, mutual funds, insurance, securities and stock choices.

But the new service may be beyond the reach of the average bank customer; access to the club requires opening an account with a minimum deposit of NT$500,000.

The new center will offer customers interest rates 1 percent above listed rates for those with a minimum deposit of NT$3 million, and an extra 0.5 percent to clients whose savings ranges between NT$500,000 and NT$3 million, Chen said.

Chinatrust will soon bring new financial products to the market that will "bring a return of at least 3 to 5 percent," Chen said.

The bank hopes to attract 150,000 clients within the year to sign up for accounts that offer overdraft protection, allowing clients convertibility of balances above a set minimum into a savings or investment instrument, such as a money market mutual fund or securities purchase.

Should an account run dry, the bank will also grant small loans between NT$300,000 and NT$500,000 at an interest rate of between 15 percent and 20 percent, depending on the client's credit, Chen said.

Following recent interest-rate cuts on bank savings, consumer capital is expected to begin moving from banks into local financial markets, where many financial institutions are hoping to grab a share of the market, industry watchers are saying.

Similar services abound in the market, with Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) opening its first financial management center last week and other banks including Bank SinoPac (華信銀行), Citibank NA (花旗銀行) and Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行) also providing financial services such as money management accounts and personal financial advice.

A Citibank official yesterday said that they provide many of the same services as super-sized financial holding companies, except that the scale is much smaller.

Chu Hau-min (朱浩民), a professor of banking at National Chengchi University, said that risk control is something that financial holding companies should focus on while conducting cross-selling operations.
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