BANKING
Number of SME loans soar
Loans extended to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by domestic banks expanded to NT$5.164 trillion (US$163.8 billion) as of the end of last year, up NT$61 billion from the end of November last year, or up NT$402.9 billion from the end of 2013, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday. The growth surpassed expectations, as the NT$402.9 billon year-on-year increase was 67.88 percent more than the government’s goal of NT$240 billion, the commission said in a statement. The loans extended to SMEs by domestic banks accounted for 55.68 of loans to enterprises in total and 59.11 percent of loans to private enterprises at the end of last year, which was an increase of 0.54 and 0.45 percentage points respectively from the end of November last year, the statement said. The average non-performing loan ratio of the SME loans was 0.44 percent and decreased by 0.08 percentage points from the end of November last year, the statement’s data showed.
INSURANCE
Cathay Life going to Cambodia
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday granted approval to Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the life insurance arm of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), to set up a subsidiary in Cambodia. The insurer plans to set up headquarters in the capital, Phnom Penh, and establish a total of six operational bases in the country within five years, the commission said in a statement. “The market potential in Cambodia for the life insurance business and its steady economic growth may benefit the development of a foreign life insurer under Cathay Life’s evaluation,” the statement said. Cathay Life has seven overseas operational bases, including subsidiaries in Vietnam, Bermuda and China, as well as offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo, the statement’s data showed.
CHIPMAKERS
Lextar reports 13% growth
LED chipmaker Lextar Electronics Corp (隆達電子) yesterday reported 13 percent growth in sales to NT$1.27 billion for last month, driven by strong demand for backlight units and LED lighting, the company said in a statement. Lextar Electronics said it has started shipping new backlight products to Chinese and Japanese clients, adding that shipments for smartphone and tablet components are also growing. Lextar Electronics’ LED lighting segment is being driven by robust demand for LED light bulbs and fluorescent tubes, the statement said.
SOLAR CELLS
Probes prompt decline
Solar cell maker Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光) yesterday posted a 52 percent annual decline in net profit for last year to NT$243 million as prices plunged in reaction to antitrust investigations in the US. The company made NT$502 million in net profit in 2013. Gross margin fell to 6.48 percent last year from 8.52 percent the year before. Neo Solar said that its efforts in expanding into the solar installation market had paid off last year, as the new sector has helped offset adverse impact from the US antidumping and antisubsidy probes on Taiwanese and Chinese solar cell makers. The company said its financial status is healthy, as it booked NT$8.72 billion in cash and its debt-to-equity ratio stood at 42 percent as of the end of last year.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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