The Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (上海商銀) appeared to have outperformed most of its financial peers, including 14 mega bank rivals, by announcing yesterday the highest bank cash dividend of NT$1.1 per share and a stock dividend of NT$0.4 per share.
“Amid the recent financial crisis, we did pretty well last year and decided to reward [investors] with dividends, which few financial rivals are paying this year,” bank chairman Yung Hung-ching (榮鴻慶) told a shareholders’ meeting yesterday.
The bank yesterday reported NT$5.46 billion (US$162 million) in after-tax income, or NT$2.32 per share — one of the best performances in the sector.
For the first quarter of this year, the bank reported a worse-than-expected after-tax earnings of NT$1.24 billion, or NT$0.53 per share, as a result of narrowed net interest margin and a declining wealth management business, the bank’s statement said.
Yung, who was re-elected as bank chairman, vowed yesterday to accelerate plans to branch into China by upgrading its liaison office in Suzhou into a branch once a cross-strait memorandum of understanding (MOU) is inked.
Meanwhile, Cosmos Bank Taiwan (萬泰銀行) yesterday decided to pay no dividends this year, its exchange filing said yesterday.
For the first time since its founding in 2001, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) recently also said it would not pay a dividend for this year, followed by seven other financial holding companies including Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控).
Among the remaining rivals, Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控), First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) and Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) paid combined dividends of NT$1, NT$0.75 and NT$0.5 respectively.
E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) announced it would pay a stock dividend of NT$0.3 while Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) and Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) pay a cash dividend of NT$0.25 and NT$0.18 respectively.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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