The Ministry of Finance yesterday denied a report that state-run Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) might be taken over by Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控).
The ministry holds a greater than 40 percent stockholding in Taiwan Cooperative, which commands a significant market share of about 10 percent in both lending and savings markets.
"Any merger deal or share sale in state banks must be approved by the legislature first. The government presently has no such policy considerations," Deputy Minister of Finance Liu Teng-cheng (劉燈城) told reporters yesterday.
The share sale plans of state banks must be carried out in an open and transparent way, he said.
Despite the ministerial denial, shares of Taiwan Cooperative shot up by close to the 7 percent daily limit to close at NT$27.45 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, while Cathay Financial shares were down by 1.52 percent to NT$90.6.
While the rumor captured the attention of investors, both lenders yesterday rebutted the reports and said no merger plan was under way.
"This is purely a rumor," Cathay Financial chief strategy officer Lee Chang-ken (
"Our holding in Taiwan Cooperative by the insurance unit is a financial investment only," he said.
Through Cathay Life Insurance Co (
Stepping up the holding in future would depend on the investment team's professional judgment, Lee said.
The executive remained tight-lipped, however, about the company's acquisition strategy and declined to comment if it intended to bid for The Chinese Bank (
Cathay United Bank (
Taiwan Cooperative president Chen An-hsiung (陳安雄) also denied the rumor.
"Cathay Financial invested in Taiwan Cooperative because the bank is capable of delivering a nice investment return in both share price and dividend policy," Chen said by telephone.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Cooperative said there was a very good chance that it would take over the debt-ridden Great Chinese Bill Finance Corp (力華票券), a firm that is now under the management of the bank and other rivals including Cathay United, after the parent Rebar Group collapsed in January.
Downplaying the potential impact on profitability, Chen said the bank should be able to receive compensation in cash for the takeover.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
Artificial intelligence (AI) agents would supplant smartphones as the center of people’s digital lives, fundamentally reshaping personal devices and driving a major computing upgrade cycle, Qualcomm Inc CEO Cristiano Amon said yesterday. In his keynote speech for this year’s Computex trade show in Taipei, Amon said that the rise of "agentic AI" — AI systems capable of reasoning, planning and carrying out tasks autonomously — would transform how people interact with technology across phones, PCs, vehicles and wearable devices. Describing the technology as the next major evolution in computing, Amon said that "2026 is the year of agents.” For decades, smartphones have sat
RSS