E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) yesterday reported a net profit of NT$4.34 billion (US$140.71 billion) in the third quarter, sliding 1.04 percent from three months earlier, as earnings in its non-banking units weakened amid the bumpy global economic recovery.
The financial service provider expects to see mild growth in overall net income this year as the quantitative easing monetary policy in the West may deepen volatility in financial markets, the company said in its report.
“The New Taiwan dollar picked up 5 percent against the US currency since the end of 2007, while the Japanese yen strengthened almost 30 percent, which may benefit Taiwan,” the report said.
However, high unemployment in the US and Europe may continue to curb demand for -Taiwan-made electronics, casting uncertainty over the economic outlook, the report said.
For the first nine months, E.Sun Financial posted a net profit of NT$3.07 billion, or NT$0.81 earnings per share, more than double its level last year, driven by growth in income from fee-related business, company president Joseph Huang (黃男州) said. E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行), the banking subsidiary and the group’s main source of revenue, reported a net profit of NT$3 billion as of the third quarter, surging 109 percent from a year earlier, Huang said.
Net fee income reached NT$4.13 billion in the third quarter, rising 6.6 percent from the second quarter and 50.8 percent from a year earlier, which Huang attributed to revived wealth management and credit card business.
Net interest income grew 5.7 percent quarterly to NT$845.3 million in the third quarter, or up 36.4 percent from a year earlier, as net interest margin edged up to 1.25 percent in the third quarter, from 1.22 percent three months earlier, while interest spread gained one basis point to 1.64 percent, the report said.
The lender won approval on Thursday from the financial regulator to sign a cooperation agreement with China Zheshang Bank (浙商銀行) related to business development and personnel training, Huang said.
The bank, which set up a representative office in Dongguan, China, in April, had a bad loan ratio of 0.39 percent at the end of September, down from 0.45 percent at the end of June.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure