CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) on Thursday reported the highest net income among the nation’s 15 financial holding companies for last month, according to the latest earnings data released by companies.
However, Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) remained the most profitable financial services provider in Taiwan in the first nine months of the year, data showed.
CTBC Financial posted NT$2.93 billion (US$89.19 million) net income for last month, with Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) securing the second place with NT$2.81 billion and Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the third place with NT$2.31 billion.
CTBC Financial said the increase in net income last month was due to contributions from an office building sale by its banking subsidiary, Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商業銀行), in July.
Aggregate net income in the first nine months came to NT$24.95 billion or NT$1.51 per share, down from NT$37.29 billion and NT$2.44 per share a year earlier, the company said.
“Barring the high basis built last year due to a NT$14.8 billion in bargain purchase windfall from our acquisition of Japan’s Tokyo Star Bank, net income would have risen 11 percent year-on-year in the first nine months,” CTBC Financial said in a statement.
Fubon Financial continues to be the financial sector’s long-reigning earnings leader this year.
From January through last month, the company’s aggregate net income rose 8.6 percent annually to a record-high NT$58.18 billion, or NT$5.69 per share, compared with last year’s NT$53.58 billion or NT$5.24 per share.
Cathay Financial claimed the second best position in terms of profitability in the first nine months, posting a net income of NT$54.89 billion or NT$4.33 per share.
The company’s nine-month results were better than the NT$44.7 billion net income or NT$3.54 per share made in the same period last year, despite its allocation of NT$2.5 billion in additional provisions against foreign exchange fluctuations, Cathay Financial said.
China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) saw its net income last month decline 60.44 percent year-on-year to NT$762 million, with aggregate net income in the first three quarters totaling NT$6.09 billion, down from NT$8.03 billion in the same period last year.
Last month, the group’s most profitable banking unit, KGI Bank (凱基銀行), saw net income rise more than twofold to NT$442 million, while its China Development Industrial Bank (中華開發工業銀行), which is transitioning from direct investments to a fund and asset managing role, recorded a net loss of NT$217 million, compared to profits of NT$219 million in August, and NT$869 million a year earlier.
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) was the only company among its peers to go into the red last month, posting a net loss of NT$286 million, or NT$0.39 loss per share. In August, the company reported a net loss of NT$2.52 billion.
Its aggregate net income in the first three quarters of this year came to NT$4.29 billion, 38.27 percent lower than the NT$6.95 billion in the same period last year, company data showed.
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