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Development Bank of Singapore takes over Bowa Bank

The Development Bank of Singapore (DBS, 星展銀行) yesterday beat two other local bidders to assume control of the debt-ridden Bowa Commercial Bank (寶華銀行) in an auction organized by the Central Deposit Insurance Corp (CDIC, 中央存保).

"The DBS agreed to take over Bowa in return for a payment of NT$44.5 billion [US$138 million]," the CDIC said in a press statement yesterday.

The parties are expected to sign a contract on Monday afternoon, the release said.

The deal excludes a portion of the bank's bad loans, which were sold on Thursday. Payment will come from the government's financial restructuring fund.

The DBS yesterday beat EnTie Commercial Bank (安泰銀行) and Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行) to acquire Bowa. It became the third foreign bank to take over a failed Taiwanese lender through a government-organized auction, following HSBC's (匯豐銀行) take-over of The Chinese Bank (中華銀行) and ABN AMRO Bank's acquisition of Taitung Business Bank (台東企銀).

Although the three rounds of direct price negotiations with the buyer's 15-member team lasted all day yesterday, from 9:30am to 5pm, CDIC president Howard Wang (王南華) said that the lengthy negotiations were rewarding.

"We are happy about the results," Wang said, adding that the DBS had previously asked for a payment of NT$50 billion from the government's fund.

After auctioning off two bad-loan packages for NT$2.8 billion on Thursday, Bowa Bank still had NT$38.6 billion in losses, he said, saying it is a pretty good deal.

Wang said that most of Bowa Bank's 700,000 saving accounts are held by small and medium businesses that have investments in Asian countries such as China and Vietnam.

As a leading player in the region, the DBS will be able to expand its clientele base in Asian markets by providing services to Taiwanese businesses, Wang said.

The DBS, which is also interested in the wealth management business, will further expand into the field through Bowa's existing 39 branches nationwide, Wang said.

The DBS will be entitled to change the locations of 19 of the branches.
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