CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金), owner of the nation’s largest credit card issuer, temporarily topped its peers in profits last month, aided mainly by an increase in interest income as its banking unit benefited from its acquisition of a Japanese lender.
The bank-oriented conglomerate recorded NT$2.45 billion (US$81.73 million) in net income last month, lifting cumulative profits to NT$33.28 billion for the first eight months of the year or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$2.26, the company said in a statement.
The results placed CTBC Financial at the lead among financial holding companies that have released their results for last month.
The ranking may change once Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金) and Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金) release their figures by tomorrow, the deadline for monthly earnings disclosure, given their robust performance so far this year.
As of last month, net interest income at CTBC Financial gained 28 percent from the same period last year, while fee income picked up 15 percent, company data showed.
The acquisition of Tokyo Star Bank helped expand its loanbook and interest income, the company said, adding that its improving wealth management business bolstered fee income.
However, CTBC Financial saw its trading income shrink 20 percent year-on-year for the first eight months, weighed down by disruptions linked to target redemption forwards (TRF), a financial derivative.
State-run First Financial Holding Co (第一金) and Hua Nan Financial Holding Co (華南金) recorded net income of NT$1.18 billion and NT$1.09 billion respectively, separate statements said.
Both figures lagged behind their levels in July, as First Commercial Bank (一銀) and Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀) increased provisions for exposures to lossmaking Taiwan Polysilicon Corp (福聚太陽能) after majority shareholder LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化工) refused to increase its capital or serve as an underwriter.
Talks on Taiwan Polysilicon’s debt refinancing have not progressed, First Financial and Hua Nan Financial said.
E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) posted NT$946 million in net income last month, while Taishin Financial Holding Co filed NT$1.25 billion in net profit, the two companies said in separate statements.
For the first eight months of the year E.Sun Financial accumulated NT$7.44 billion in net income and Taishin Financial amassed NT$11.62 billion, translating into EPS of NT$1.28 and NT$1.12 respectively.
SinoPac Financial Holding Co (永豐金) had NT$1.48 billion in net income last month or cumulative profit of NT$9.89 billion for the first eight months, the company said in a statement, translating into EPS of NT$1.21.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)