HSBC Holdings Plc, the largest bank in Europe, plans to turn The Chinese Bank (
The remarks came after HSBC agreed to take over the debt-ridden Taiwanese bank in return for a payment of NT$47.49 billion (US$1.46 billion) from the government last Friday, making it the fourth foreign bank to buy a local lender this year.
"The Chinese Bank is good at personal financing and commercial financing for small-and-medium companies in particular ... HSBC is strong [in these areas]. We want to increase the size," HSBC Taiwan Chief Executive Alistaire Currie said yesterday.
PHOTO: YANG YA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
As the nation's personal financing segment is recovering from huge credit card defaults, Currie said "We are also confident on Taiwan's personal financing."
The acquisition would also help HSBC expand its life insurance business in Taiwan, Currie said, adding that the London-based bank set up a life insurance operation in Taiwan earlier this year.
HSBC intends to turn around The Chinese Bank next year and aims to complete integration in two years, Currie told a press briefing.
After the merger, HSBC would increase its outlet network nearly six-fold from eight to 47.
The European bank yesterday also said it planned to set up a local subsidiary in the first half of 2009 as part of the agreement with the Central Deposit Insurance Corp (CDIC), which will take The Chinese Bank out of receivership.
As part of its efforts to reach its goal, HSBC will inject another US$300 million to US$400 million in capital into The Chinese Bank, it said. HSBC is scheduled to sign an agreement with the CDIC tomorrow.
Answering a question about HSBC's future expansion plans in Taiwan, Currie said, "The door is not closed."
Expansion in Taiwan would serve a "strong component" of HSBC's development in the rapidly growing Greater China market and other Asian markets such as Vietnam, he said.
The Chinese Bank posted gross assets of about NT$100.16 billion as of the end of the third quarter. The lender operates 36 branches and has over one million customers around the nation.
Under the terms of the transaction, HSBC would also be able to covert three business offices of the Chinese Bank into new branches.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the