The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday announced more deregulation for banks’ offshore banking units (OBUs), saying they may provide all foreign currency-based products and services to customers regardless of asset levels.
The easing came as part of the government’s efforts to facilitate the development of “free economic pilot zones” in the nation, the commission said on its Web site.
BUSINESS
The latest liberalization saves OBUs from needing to classify clients based on their asset levels when they seek to offer financial products and services, the commission said in a statement, adding that they may conduct all types of business not explicitly prohibited.
The easing is intended to allow financial institutions more room to diversify their product lines and boost their overall revenues, the commission said.
Meanwhile, the commission approved plans by Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) to acquire the local unit of New York Life Insurance Co, according to a separate statement.
Yuanta Financial in June inked a deal with New York Life to buy the local unit for NT$100 million (US$3.3 million).
GREEN LIGHT
The commission yesterday also gave its go-ahead to plans by Jih Sun International Bank (日盛銀行) to set up a representative office in Hong Kong, as well as plans by Shin Kong Commercial Bank (新光銀行) to establish a representative office in Yangon, Myanmar.
In related news, new housing loans given by the nation’s five largest banks marked the highest level since July last year, as more people have moved into their own houses or apartments by the end of the year, the central bank said yesterday.
The Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南商業銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) gave NT$54.47 billion (US$1.81 billion) in new housing loans last month, an increase of NT$11.29 billion from figures in October.
INCREASE
The month-on-month increase of NT$11.29 billion marked the second-largest rise this year, only slightly behind the level of NT$13.93 billion recorded in March.
“[In Taiwan], some people prefer taking [ownership of] their houses by end of the year,” Chen E-dawn (陳一端), deputy head of the bank’s Economic Research Department, told a press conference.
In addition, a large construction project in Xindian District (新店), New Taipei City (新北市), was settled last month, helping boost the overall number of housing loans, Chen added.
The average interest rate on new housing loans at the five banks in Taiwan dropped to 1.935 percent last month, from the 1.945 percent recorded in October, reaching its lowest level since December last year, the central bank said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the