Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金), one of the nation’s largest financial holding companies, posted a 36 percent year-on-year increase in net profit last month, largely because of the contribution of its flagship life insurance unit, the company said.
Fubon Financial’s earnings increase helped boost financial plays yesterday, though the main trading index edged down at the close of trade, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
In a statement released on Monday, Fubon Financial Holdings reported NT$9.13 billion (US$289.35 million) in net profit for last month, up from NT$6.7 billion recorded in January last year.
It recorded earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.89, compared with NT$0.66 a year earlier.
The results confirmed Fubon Financial Holding as the most profitable of the nation’s 15 listed financial holding companies.
Last month, Fubon Life Insurance (富邦人壽) posted net profit of NT$6.48 billion, nearly double its net profit of NT$3.28 in the same period last year, after the life insurer raked in NT$13.9 billion in first-year premiums, up 26 percent from a year earlier.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) finished in second place with NT$6.53 billion in net profit last month, the company said in a statement.
The figures represented a 62.03 percent pickup from a year earlier, with EPS of NT$0.51, the company said.
Its year-on-year net profit growth was the fastest in the local financial holding company sector so far, company data showed.
Cathay Financial said that the strong growth resulted largely from the successful investment strategies of its flagship insurance unit, Cathay Life Insurance (國泰人壽).
The insurer also garnered NT$17.69 billion in first-year premiums during the month, the highest among life insurers of those that have reported their results for last month.
Following the big two was CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金) with NT$3.56 billion in net profit last month, an increase of 23.81 percent from a year earlier, CTBC said in a statement.
State-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金) reported a net profit of NT$2.78 billion last month, a gain of 20.04 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
CTBC Financial and Mega Financial had EPS of NT$0.23 and NT$0.22 respectively, separate company data showed.
Boosted by strong earnings of financial holding companies last month, the financial sub-index on Taiwan’s stock exchange was up 0.89 percent at 1,095.49 as of 12:08pm yesterday, outperforming the broader market.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange was down 0.3 percent at 9,393.70.
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