The Industrial Bank of Taiwan (IBT, 台灣工銀), one of the nation's three industrial banks, yesterday celebrated the launch of its NT$2 billion headquarters in the Neihu Science Park, Taipei City, by reporting record-high earnings for last year.
The bank's after-tax earnings more than doubled year-on-year to NT$2.02 billion (US$65.2 million), with an after-tax NT$0.84 earning per share and a 7.43 percent return on equity for last year, IBT chairman Kenneth Lo (
The 12-story structure was designed by Kevin Cook, who designed the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
"Last year's earnings were the highest since the Industrial Bank of Taiwan was established almost eight years ago," Lo said.
Unaffected by domestic defaults over unsecured consumer loans and the US' subprime crisis, the IBT secured positive gains in securities and investment ventures in the first three quarters of last year, he said.
Established in 1999 with 150 employees, the IBT now boasts NT$360 billion in assets and more than 1,000 employees, he added.
Financial Supervisory Commission Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) praised IBT's performance, while central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) lauded the bank's success in expanding into investment banking, securities brokerages and bills finance in Hong Kong, as well as its plans to tap into the Vietnamese market.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last