BNP inks pact with local bank

Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), the nation's second-largest lender by assets, inked a pact with BNP Paribas to form an asset management joint venture and buy out a local securities investment trust firm in the first quarter of next year.

BNP Paribas did not rule out equity investment in Taiwan Cooperative in the long run, Laurent de Meyere, country manager of BNP Paribas' Taipei branch, told a press conference yesterday.

But no such talks are currently being held, de Meyere added.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding for strategic alliance in global cooperation, asset management and bancassurance brought the long-rumored partnership between the two banks into reality.

The tie-up would facilitate mutual benefits by leveraging BNP Paribas' international expertise and technology platform, as well as Taiwan Cooperative's knowledge of the local market and its extensive distribution network of nearly 300 branches across the nation, the joint statement read.

The two banks will each own half of the venture, according to Taiwan Cooperative. The capitalization of the planned venture has not been set yet, bank spokesman Chen An-hsiung (陳安雄) said.

The acquisition work will proceed quickly with due diligence starting "very soon," Chen said.

BNP Paribas currently only controls 10 percent of Uni-President Assets Management Corp (統一投信). Several local securities investment trust firms, including Taishin Securities Investment Trust Co (台新投信) and Transcend Securities Investment Trust Co (傳山投信), reportedly welcome bids from suitable investors.

Lawrence Lo (盧麒), managing director of BNP Paribas Asset Management Asia Ltd, however, declined to comment on the named firms during a telephone interview late yesterday.

"We do have some targets on our list now, but we still have to discuss this with our partner," Lo said.

The French company said it preferred targets with capitalization of less than NT$2 billion (US$61.7 million) to NT$3 billion, a diverse range of products and sound reputation.

"We are very upbeat on Taiwan [and] expect the mutual fund market to grow 50 percent to US$130 billion in 2010 from US$87 billion last year," Lo said.

The establishment of the planned joint venture completes BNP Paribas' business layout for the Greater China region, which comprises Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, in the asset management area, the executive said.

BNP Paribas manages US$33 billion worth of assets in Asia, accounting for more than 10 percent of total assets under its management worldwide.

The future subsidiary in Taiwan will be its fourth asset management joint venture in Asia, after Shanghai, Seoul and Mumbai, it said.

Taiwan Cooperative chairman Sean Chen's (陳沖) visit to Paris last year started the alliance talks, which was put into practice last month with the local bank selling mortgage life insurance products provided by Cardif Assurance Vie's branch in Taiwan, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas.

The bank said in the statement that it may evolve into a financial holding firm after expanding its banking and wealth management businesses.

Taiwan Cooperative's shares closed up 2.4 percent at NT$24 on the main board yesterday.