Taiwan Ratings said on Saturday that the outlook for Taiwan Financial Holding Co’s (台灣金控) long-term credit rating was stable because it has a strong position in the banking sector thanks to the presence of its flagship subsidiary, Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行).
The ratings agency said the status of Bank of Taiwan, the nation’s largest commercial bank in terms of total assets and deposits, is unlikely to change significantly over the next one or two years.
Currently, Bank of Taiwan accounts for 11.9 percent of local banking deposits.
Taiwan Ratings has assigned “twAAA” for the financial firm’s long-term credit and “twA-1+” for its short-term counterparty credit.
According to Taiwan Financial, which operates banking, life insurance and securities business, its credit ratings rank the highest among local financial holding companies.
In addition, Bank Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台銀人壽), which is the insurance arm of Taiwan Financial, has been assigned “twAAA” on its long-term counterparty credit and financial strength ratings.
Bank of Taiwan has also been rated “twAAA” and “twA-1+” on its long-term and short-term credits, thanks to the stable outlook.
The agency said the credit ratings reflect the high possibility of continued government support for Taiwan Financial, which is the nation’s only wholly state-owned financial holding company.
“The ratings also reflect the holding company’s shared credit profile with its operating subsidiaries, the strong market position and established franchise of its flagship subsidiary, Bank of Taiwan, in Taiwan’s banking sector, as well as the group’s satisfactory liquidity profile,” the ratings agency added.
The agency said Taiwan Financial “has a satisfactory financial profile, which mainly reflects Bank of Taiwan’s strong funding and liquidity and strong capitalization.”
Taiwan Financial said the company now enjoys a 12.7 percent share of the domestic financial holding business.
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