Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the nation’s second-largest financial services provider by assets, yesterday reported NT$3.72 billion (US$122.57 million) in net income for last month, a rise of 17.89 percent from last year, as its core businesses saw significant pickup amid improved operating conditions.
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) generated NT$4.87 billion for the group, while Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank Co (台北富邦銀行) contributed NT$4.1 billion — an amount attributed to regular interest and dividend income, as well as investment gains, the Taipei-based holding firm said in a statement.
Cumulative net income was NT$14.42 billion for the first two months of this year, representing earnings per share of NT$1.02 and a significant lead over other domestic financial holding companies.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) was the runner-up by posting NT$7.79 billion in net profit for the first two months, with earnings per share of NT$0.72, due to its larger asset size, the company said in a statement.
The firm said it continued to benefit from unrealized gains in real-estate value increases attributable to accounting rule changes.
CATHAY SUBSIDIARIES
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), which owns more than 200 landmark buildings throughout the nation, is aggressively expanding its real-estate investments to Southeast Asia, China and the UK, while Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀) is strengthening its overseas operations and has recently earned China’s approval to establish a sub-branch in Shanghai’s free-trade zone, the statement said.
Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) and Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) were placed third and fourth in terms of EPS, with earnings of NT$0.45 and NT$0.42 respectively in the first two months, according to their stock exchange filings.
Meanwhile, increases in commercial lending and sales of wealth management products helped offset the negative effect of having fewer working days last month and allowed CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) to rank the fifth place, with EPS of NT$0.36 as of last month, the company said last week.
LOCAL LOAN RACE
Separately, E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) yesterday said it is eyeing first place in a lending race to the creative industry this year, as the government seeks to support local firms outside the technology sector, company president Joseph Huang (黃男州) said.
Huang refused to give exact numbers, saying that rival financial services providers could then just top his firm’s target to win the competition.
E.Sun Financial posted NT$841.38 million in net income last month, despite provision costs of NT$3.05 million to meet tighter capital requirements.
Cumulative profit for the Taipei-based company stood at NT$1.86 billion for the first two months of the year, or earnings per share of NT$0.33.
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