The ratio of bad loans, including loans under surveillance, fell slightly to 1.54 percent in July from 1.55 percent in June, the lastest banking statistics from the Financial Supervisory Commission showed yesterday.
Thirty-seven domestic banks loaned a total of NT$18.21 trillion (US$573.6 billion) as of the end of July, NT$280 billion of which became non-performing loans (NPL), the commission’s tallies showed.
Among them, Chinfon Commercial Bank (慶豐銀行) continued to hold the highest NPL ratio of 29.05 percent, followed by Cosmos Bank Taiwan’s (萬泰銀行) 4.82 percent, Bank of Panhsin’s (板信銀行) 3.78 percent and Jih Sun International Bank’s (日盛銀行) 3.59 percent, while the remaining banks kept a NPL ratio of less than 3 percent.
The commission yesterday said that it was keeping an eye on Chinfon Bank’s capital-raising plan, which, if it succeeds, would help turn around the bank’s asset quality.
Last year, Chinfon’s shareholders approved a capital-raising plan to inject NT$14.17 billion into the bank, but the lender has had problems locating new investors.
The commission’s statistics showed that the sector’s ratio of bad loans from cash-advance card borrowing declined in July for the 13th consecutive month to 4.64 percent — the lowest in two years — from 5.28 percent in June.
The number of effective cash cards in the sector totaled 1.21 million cards in July, compared with 1.23 million cards in June, and outstanding loans from the cards reached NT$99.5 billion, down NT$3.7 billion from June.
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