Cosmos shares take a plunge after FSC bans margin trading

Shares of debt-ridden Cosmos Bank (萬泰銀行), the nation's largest cash card issuer, plunged yesterday after the financial regulator said the bank would be banned from margin trading in September as rising losses seriously dent its net value.

Cosmos shares closed nearly limit-down, or 6.95 percent, at NT$14.05 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, compared with a 1.19 percent rise on the benchmark TAIEX.

The Economic Daily News reported yesterday that Cosmos' net worth continued to drop below half of its capitalization to NT$8.8 billion (US$268 million) at the end of last month, citing an unnamed Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) official.

FSC spokeswoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But Chinese-language online news outlet cnyes.com reported earlier yesterday that Chang confirmed the report, saying the bank's shares could only be traded in cash starting in September.

Cosmos announced on Thursday that its board had agreed to a plan to cut 30 percent of its capital, or NT$5.9 billion in capitalization, and use the money to make up a widening financial gap.

The move came too late to turn things around, the commission official said.

The lender incurred a cumulative deficit of NT$3.17 billion for the first five months of this year, with a high non-performing loan ratio of 6.68 percent, government data showed.

Cosmos is expected to obtain a one-off fund injection of more than NT$27 billion from an investor consortium by the end of September, the FSC said last month.