China Merchants Bank (招商銀行), one of the six largest lenders in China, has filed an application with the Financial Supervisory Commission to set up a representative office in Taiwan, the commission said yesterday.
The move made the bank the third Chinese lender to seek to join the overcrowded and fragmented banking market in Taiwan since the two sides signed the Economic Cooperation Framework -Agreement (ECFA) in June.
“The commission received the application on Oct. 11,” Jean Chiu (邱淑貞), deputy director-general of the commission’s banking bureau, told a media briefing. “The commission will reach a conclusion after consulting the central bank.”
Last month, the commission gave its approval to Bank of China (中國銀行) and Bank of Communications (交通銀行) to establish representative offices in Taiwan. China has approved four Taiwanese banks to open branches there.
China Merchants Bank is privately owned and has capital of 2.28 trillion yuan (US$419.63 billion) and reported a pre-tax profit of 17 billion yuan in the first half of this year.
The Chinese lender posted a bad-loan ratio at 0.67 percent and a coverage ratio of 297 percent as of June 30, Chiu said.
Its risk-based asset ratio stood at 11.06 percent while return-on-assets and equity reached 1.21 percent and 24.27 percent respectively, Chiu said.
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