E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) yesterday appointed a chief technology officer (CTO) to lead its technological development efforts, making it the first among its peers to do so.
The company appointed Chen Sheng-wei (陳昇瑋), a researcher at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Information Science specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics and deep learning, as chief technology officer and technology adviser.
Chen would help consolidate and lead the firm’s resources and ongoing projects involving more than 1,000 staff developers, E.Sun Financial said.
Chen said that while he has observed a deep disconnect between academia and industry in his past collaborative efforts, he is optimistic about taking on the new post at the bank-focused company.
As academics are preoccupied with writing papers based on industrial data, they are often treated as outsiders by businesses, which produces unsatisfactory results, Chen said, adding that he does not expecting such difficulties at E.Sun Financial.
E.Sun Financial president Joseph Huang (黃男州) said that the company hopes to use AI technologies to improve its regulatory compliance and deliver customized products and services.
Meanwhile, the company said that net income last year rose 12.2 percent annually to NT$14.74 billion (US$502 million), setting a new record high for the sixth consecutive year, while earnings per share were NT$1.49, company data showed.
Net income last month grew 58.6 percent to NT$1.92 billion, a new monthly record, Huang said.
The growth was primarily driven by wealth management fees, which surged to NT$950 million from NT$420 million a year earlier, E.Sun Financial chief financial officer Magi Chen (陳美滿) said.
She said that the company has adjusted to new regulatory rules that limited incentives on bancassurance sales, adding that demand for wealth management products has been growing as the TAIEX holds above 10,000 points.
Looking ahead, Huang is targeting double-digit percentage growth in wealth management and credit card fee incomes this year, and expects E.Sun Commercial Bank’s (玉山銀行) loan book to grow much faster than those of other lenders, particularly in foreign currency lending.
E.Sun Bank is planning to open two new overseas branches, one in Brisbane, Australia, and the other in Guangzhou, China, the company said.
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