Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the nation’s second-largest financial service provider by assets, yesterday reported that its net income last month dropped 11.9 percent as a stronger New Taiwan dollar ate into the profits at its life insurance arm.
Its after-tax profits slid to NT$1.48 billion (US$51.37 million) from March because of higher currency hedging costs for Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), the company said.
The NT dollar strengthened 2.2 percent against the US currency last month, Taipei Forex Inc data showed.
Fubon Life’s net profit plunged 73 percent to NT$81 million last month from a month earlier because of higher provisions for traditional life insurance policies, the company said.
For the first four months of this year, Fubon Financial accumulated NT$11.71 billion in net income, or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$1.37, making it the most profitable among local financial service providers.
Its banking arm, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank Co (台北富邦銀行), continued to be its main source of income, contributing NT$840 million, or 56.76 percent, of the group’s net earnings last month, company data showed.
Revenue from wealth management picked up 13 percent from a month earlier as clients bought more mutual funds, the company said.
The lender booked a provision of NT$60 million last month for both credit card and corporate loans, the company’s data showed. Its non-performing loan ratio also dropped to 0.2 percent at the end of last month, from 0.22 percent at the end of March, data showed.
Foreign exchange losses did not affect Fubon Financial’s ranking as the nation’s most profitable financial group.
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), which owns the nation’s largest credit card issuer, last week reported a net income of NT$1.67 billion for last month.
That was down NT$740 million from March’s results, when sales of bad assets by its US banking subsidiary boosted the group’s overall earnings, the company said.
Cumulative net profit for the first four months of the year reached NT$6.55 billion, or EPS of NT$0.63, company data showed.
In related developments, Hau Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控) yesterday filed a net income of NT$680 million for last month, an increase of NT$13 million from March, amid improving business at its banking arm, Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), the company said.
The group’s January-to-April net profits totaled NT$2.69 billion, or EPS of NT$0.41, company statistics showed.
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