State-run Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co (合庫金控) is to sit out the competition among local peers for Web-only bank licenses and focus on business opportunities linked to the nation’s graying population, a company executive said.
“We have no intention of competing for the two Internet-only bank licenses, because such operations are different from the online banking services offered by conventional lenders,” Taiwan Cooperative Financial president Chen Mei-tsu (陳美足) told an investors’ conference on Thursday.
The Financial Supervisory Commission has announced plans to issue two licenses for Web-only banks in Taiwan, which must allow non-banking enterprises to own a controlling stake, in line with international trends.
State-run Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) and Taiwan Business Bank (台企銀) have said they are interested in setting up new ventures in partnership with domestic telecoms.
By contrast, Chen said the holding, which focuses on its banking business, prefers a stable and conservative approach to improve its earnings ability.
The conglomerate’s main subsidiary, Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行), is to open “digital branches” and expand online banking services to meet client’s needs, Chen said.
The lender, which operates 270 outlets nationwide, ranks first in terms of reverse mortgage operations, which totaled NT$6.4 billion (US$208 million) in the first half of the year, Chen said.
Reverse mortgage operations, part of the government’s response to Taiwan’s fast-growing aging population, help elderly home owners maintain financial independence by mortgaging their property.
The lender is to focus on such activities by providing suchclients with one-stop trust services that cover leasing and property rights, long-term care, prepayment of services and other solutions, Chen said.
Judging by the loans it extended in the first half, the bank also outperformed peers in supporting the government’s New Southbound Policy, she said.
The cautious strategy paid off, as Taiwan Cooperative Financial posted NT$8.09 billion in net income in the first six months of the year, an 8.45 percent increase from the same period last year, Chen said.
Overseas operations contributed 30.26 percent of the company’s total earnings, as lending in Southeast Asia generated higher yields, Taiwan Cooperative Financial said.
Later this year, Taiwan Cooperative Bank is to add two branches in Cambodia, where it already has five offices, Chen said.
The lender is pressing ahead with portfolio adjustments by overweighting assets that generate better yields and underweighting low-yield assets, Chen said.
The bank’s non-performing loan ratio dropped to 0.35 percent by the end of June, down 6 basis points from the end of the second half of last year, company data showed.
ELECTRONICS BOOST: A predicted surge in exports would likely be driven by ICT products, exports of which have soared 84.7 percent from a year earlier, DBS said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 4 percent from 3 percent, citing robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related exports and accelerated shipment activity, which are expected to offset potential headwinds from US tariffs. “Our GDP growth forecast for 2025 is revised up to 4 percent from 3 percent to reflect front-loaded exports and strong AI demand,” Singapore-based DBS senior economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in an online briefing. Taiwan’s second-quarter performance beat expectations, with GDP growth likely surpassing 5 percent, driven by a 34.1 percent year-on-year increase in exports, Ma said, citing government
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
SMART MANUFACTURING: The company aims to have its production close to the market end, but attracting investment is still a challenge, the firm’s president said Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said its long-term global production plan would stay unchanged amid geopolitical and tariff policy uncertainties, citing its diversified global deployment. With operations in Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Europe and the US, Delta follows a “produce at the market end” strategy and bases its production on customer demand, with major site plans unchanged, Delta president Simon Chang (張訓海) said on the sidelines of a company event yesterday. Thailand would remain Delta’s second headquarters, as stated in its first-quarter earnings conference, with its plant there adopting a full smart manufacturing system, Chang said. Thailand is the firm’s second-largest overseas
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market value closed above US$1 trillion for the first time in Taipei last week, with a raised sales forecast driven by robust artificial intelligence (AI) demand. TSMC saw its Taiwanese shares climb to a record high on Friday, a near 50 percent rise from an April low. That has made it the first Asian stock worth more than US$1 trillion, since PetroChina Co (中國石油天然氣) briefly reached the milestone in 2007. As investors turned calm after their aggressive buying on Friday, amid optimism over the chipmaker’s business outlook, TSMC lost 0.43 percent to close at NT$1,150