Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday won a majority of five seats at the nine-member board of Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) while the Ministry of Finance, the second-largest shareholder, snapped up the remaining four seats to increase its presence.
The outcome came as little surprise as Taishin Financial and the finance ministry are Chang Hwa Bank’s two largest shareholders with respective 22.5 percent and 19 percent stakes.
Despite its underdog status on the board, the ministry dismissed media reports of a merger, saying it is in Chang Hwa Bank’s best interests to preserve the status quo.
“We have no plan to yield Chang Hwa Bank to Taishin Financial,” Su Ler-ming (蘇樂明), director-general of the ministry’s National Treasury Agency, told a media briefing yesterday evening.
Su said the ministry retained four seats in the nine-member board that once had 15 board seats before downsizing in June.
The ratio of government-appointed representatives increased from 26 percent to 44 percent after the two-hour board election, Su said, adding that he managed to rally support from foreign institutional investors who own more than 10 percent of Chang Hwa Bank shares.
Taishin Financial and the ministry would join hands in making Chang Hwa Bank more efficient and profitable and put aside the idea of a merger, Su said.
By winning a majority of the board’s seats, Taishin Financial was able to file a joint yearly financial statement with Chang Hwa Bank, posting a profit of NT$10 billion (US$2.9 billion) so far this year.
The board would also choose a replacement of Chang Hwa Bank chairman Lee Yung-san (李庸三), who has offered to resign for health reasons, Su said.
The financial official said the ministry may give one board seat to a union representative but would not reach a conclusion before the return of Minister of Finance Lee Sush-ter (李述德) from the APEC forum in Peru.
Taishin Financial and the ministry also won one supervisor’s seat each and the third seat went to a private investment company.
Taishin stock closed up 0.18 percent at NT$4.62 on the local bourse yesterday, while the price of Chang Hwa shares remained unchanged at NT$11.
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