Taiwan Cooperative Bank completes privatization

Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫) announced yesterday its official transformation into a private bank, after the government's stock holding dropped to below 50 percent, the threshold for a bank to qualify as privatized.

The Ministry of Finance sold 306.44 million shares of Taiwan Cooperative Bank to the lender's employees to privatize the bank, reduce the government's budget deficit and cut record national debt.

The sale is estimated to bring in NT$7.78 billion for the government based on Taiwan Cooperative's closing share price of NT$25.4 yesterday.

In the wake of the share sale, the ministry's holding in the bank has fallen to about 47 percent from 61.45 percent, said Johnson Huang (黃呈成), director of Taiwan Cooperative's public relations division.

In the early stage of the privatization, the bank will focus on adjusting to its new status as a private lender, which is expected to allow more flexibility in its business, Huang said.

Another major plan is to hire more staff, as about 700 to 800 employees -- or 10 percent of the lender's workforce -- have applied for early retirement to take advantage of higher pensions as a result of the privatization, Huang said.

The retirement wave has also swept through the upper levels of the bank's management, with three vice presidents, including bank spokesman David Wang (王清男), to retire within the week, Huang said.

Investors welcomed the privatization of the 183-outlet bank, but said there's room for further improvement.

"This is good news for the bank, but I think the government still needs to do more to turn it into a non-government-controlled bank," said Wang Chien-ming (王建民), an analyst at Capital Securities Co (群益證券).

The 47-percent stake owned by the government is still high and large enough for the state to gain control of the lender's board, limiting possible reform over the long run, Wang said. The ministry, however, may further release more shares of the bank to the public after it completes share sales of other state-run banks, he said.