Following the US subprime crisis, 13 of the nation's 39 banks posted a total of NT$4 billion (US$123.5 million) in impaired assets from their NT$21.8 billion investment in structured-investment vehicles (SIVs) as of Oct. 25, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) -- a banking unit under SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) -- topped 12 other banks in booking the highest amount, NT$2.3 billion in impaired assets among its NT$11.3 billion investment in SIVs, FSC Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) said.
SinoPac said on Tuesday that it would book a NT$1.53 billion charge for the third quarter to reflect losses on the SIV investments.
The commission also disclosed yesterday that 21 of the 39 banks had a NT$56.3 billion exposure to US subprime mortgage-related products.
In August, 16 banks reported to the FSC that they held NT$40.4 billion in investments linked to US subprime loans.
Chang said that, as of last month, the 21 banks had booked less than NT$300 million in losses, and another NT$3.1 billion in outstanding losses.
With wealth management investors selling their subprime investments, the sector's accumulated assets in subprime-related portfolios dropped to NT$1.4 billion last month from NT$4.1 billion in early August.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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