The government may take over more banks this year as depositors shun those with poor credit profiles, the local unit of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said yesterday.
Government bailouts have led worried depositors to put their money with more reputable banks, exacerbating funding problems, said the unit, Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評).
The government has rescued six failing financial institutions over the past 14 months, it said.
"Fund-starved banks face significant challenges to overcome the negative sentiment and secure new business," Susan Chu (
The statement indicated that the worst might not be over for Taiwanese banks after last year's recovery from a surge in credit-card loan defaults that crimped earnings the previous two years.
For lower-rated banks, holders of subordinated debt and similar instruments not guaranteed by the government face increasing risks, it said.
The risk of firms and governments in the Asia Pacific region defaulting on their debt rose to records this week after American International Group Inc reported credit-default swap losses were four times higher than forecast.
Still, the local banking system "remains largely stable," Taiwan Ratings said, as the failed and vulnerable institutions account for a small proportion of assets.
Banks wrote off NT$58.3 billion (US$1.8 billion) in credit-card debt in the first 11 months of last year, about 54 percent of the amount in the same period in 2006, the Financial Supervisory Commission said.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS