Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (
Lin said the best timing for a merger would be after the island's March 20 presidential election, the paper reported. Both banks have their headquarters in Taipei.
A merger would create a bank with NT$2.96 trillion (US$88.8 billion) of assets, eclipsing state-owned Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) as the island's biggest lender, according to Bureau of Monetary Affairs figures. They would have 359 local branches and 17 overseas.
Taiwan's financial institutions are combining in line with a government push for consolidation in an industry where more than 300 banks and community credit associations compete for the business of 23 million people.
"The Taiwan government has made financial industry reform its top priority in the past four years and we can reasonably expect to see some mega bank merger deals this year," said Tracy Chen, who oversees US$73 million of assets at Prudential Securities Investment Trust Co (
Hua Nan Financial and First Financial executives didn't answer calls made to their offices. The government is the controlling shareholder of both banks.
Hua Nan Financial expressed an interest in First Financial about a possible merger, though no proposal was submitted or talks held, Ed Liu (
Barro Yang, a spokesman at First Financial's investor relations department, said in the same month that no formal proposal was made by Hua Nan.
Taishin Financial Holdings Co (台新金控), the owner of Taiwan's second-largest credit-card issuer, also expressed an interest in merging with First Financial, the Commercial Times report said, citing Taishin Chairman Thomas Wu (吳東亮). Taishin would probably keep First Financial operating as a separate bank rather than combine it with its holding company, the report said.
As part of its expansion plans, Taishin has been buying shares of International Bank of Taipei (
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian (
In June 2001, Chen's government set up a NT$140 billion fund to bail out bankrupt lenders. Two months later, it used the fund to take over 36 credit cooperatives burdened by bad loans.
The Financial Holding Company Act, passed in the same year, enabled lenders and insurers to merge and acquire businesses under a holding company structure. Fourteen financial holding companies have since been formed. Banks were also offered tax incentives to merge.
The TWSE Bank and Insurance Index rose 24 percent in the first two months of this year, compared with a 15 percent gain for the main TWSE Index.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
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