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Subprime losses increased in February

The local financial sector’s losses, incurred from subprime-related investments and structured investment vehicles (SIV), totaled NT$31.3 billion (US$1.03 billion) by the end of February, up from NT$24.9 billion the previous month, the Financial Supervisory Commission’s latest statistics showed yesterday.

The nation’s banking and insurance sector realized some NT$9.55 billion of losses, up from NT$5.1 billion the previous month, according to the commission’s statistics. Firms also increased their provisions on potential losses from January’s NT$5 billion to NT$9.5 billion in February – a sign that “local banks and insurers are aggressively taking precautionary measures” against a negative impact from the US subprime crisis, commission vice chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) said at a press conference.

The financial sector’s exposure to subprime-related investments and SIVs, however, declined to total NT$71.2 billion and NT$19.3 billion respectively in February, down from NT$75 billion and NT$21.2 billion the previous month.

The local banking sector had a subprime-related exposure of NT$49.2 billion, down from NT$52 billion in January, and an SIV exposure of NT$17.8 billion, down from NT$19.8 billion.

The insurance sector’s exposure to subprime-related investments and SIVs was unchanged, the commission’s data showed.
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