Several bankers yesterday lauded President Chen Shui-bian's (
At a recent meeting with his top economics advisors, Chen said he hopes to reduce the number of state-run banks to six by the end of next year, while increasing the market share of three domestic banks to above 10 percent.
He also proposed halving the number of financial holding companies in 2006 while encouraging at least one domestic bank to list shares in an overseas stock market or to turn its management over to a foreign owner.
"Those will be very important milestones to achieve, but it's a question of how," Citigroup Global Markets Taiwan Ltd chairman Tu Ying-tzyong (
Tu said that the government should use market capitalization, instead of market share, to gauge the health of domestic banks. Market cap, which is derived by multiplying a com-pany's share price by its number of shares outstanding, is a quick way of putting a price tag on a company.
"The local financial market will still be overcrowded with seven financial holding companies if they are not turning a profit," Tu said.
The best approach would be to nurture at least two to three domestic financial-service companies to become regional players in the Asia-Pacific markets with a market cap of over US$20 billion, he said.
Despite the difficulties involved, four to five leading, innovative domestic banks should also be developed, while the nation's remaining financial institutions should be encouraged to transform themselves into niche banks, Tu said.
First Financial Holding Co (
However, Huang said that the government should encourage mer-gers to create synergy, rather than just halving the number of banks as a means of addressing the nation's over-banking plight.
He also expressed concern over the foreign-ownership proposal, citing a bad experience when First Financial was accused of inappropriately profiting foreign investors in its issuance of global depository receipts (GDRs) to attract foreign investors earlier this year.
"There should be concrete supporting measures to implement the government's consolidation goals," Huang said.
Peng suggested that the government come up with "carrot-and-stick" measures, such as tax breaks and branch licenses, to motivate the private sector to meet the government's goals.
The government will face great challenges in merging state-run banks, as it will be very painful for them to rationalize costs by laying off employees and shutting down redundant branches, he said.
Joseph Lyu (
Market forces will naturally edge non-performing banks out of the marketplace, allowing leading banks to compete with their regional competitors, Lyu said.
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
FORECAST: The greater computing power needed for emerging AI applications has driven higher demand for advanced semiconductors worldwide, TSMC said The government-supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has raised its forecast for this year’s growth in the output value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to above 22 percent on strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In its latest IEK Current Quarterly Model report, the institute said the local semiconductor industry would have output of NT$6.5 trillion (US$216.6 billion) this year, up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, an upward revision from a 19.1 percent increase estimate made in May. The strong showing of the local semiconductor industry largely reflected the stronger-than-expected performance of the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing segment,
NVIDIA FACTOR: Shipments of AI servers powered by GB300 chips would undergo pilot runs this quarter, with small shipments possibly starting next quarter, it said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which supplies artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp chips, yesterday said that AI servers are on track to account for 70 percent of its total server revenue this year, thanks to improved yield rates and a better learning curve for Nvidia’s GB300 chip-based servers. AI servers accounted for more than 60 percent of its total server revenue in the first half of this year, Quanta chief financial officer Elton Yang (楊俊烈) told an online conference. The company’s latest production learning curve of the AI servers powered by Nvidia’s GB200 chips has improved after overcoming key component
RSS