State-run First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), the banking arm of First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), yesterday confirmed that it has pulled out of the competition for two Web-only bank licenses over concern that it would not have a majority stake or decisive say in operations.
The Financial Supervisory Commission is to issue Web-only bank licenses this year, with the application process to open today.
“The share structure arrangement would limit participation by First Bank to capital investment, as it could not own a majority stake and therefore could not dominate policy decisions,” First Financial chairman Ray Dawn (董瑞斌) said at a public function yesterday.
A so-called national team has disclosed its lineup, which includes Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) with a 30 percent share, Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) with 25.1 percent, Shin Kong Commercial Bank (新光銀行) with 14 percent and Pxmart (全聯福利中心) with 9 percent.
The other camp features Line Financial Taiwan Corp (台灣連線金融科技), Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行), Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行), Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行) and Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan Ltd (渣打台灣銀行).
That suggests no room for other players.
First Bank would prefer to upgrade its systems and expand its portfolio of Internet-related businesses, Dawn said.
“With or without a Web license, First Bank will not sit out when it comes to online or mobile banking business, but will seek organic growth,” Dawn said.
The bank aims to raise its profit contribution from overseas operations of between 45 percent and 48 percent to 50 percent, he said.
The goal requires an increase of customers in overseas markets and is achievable by following Taiwanese firms with expansion plans abroad, Dawn said.
Taiwanese firms are expanding their footprints on the world stage and First Bank must follow suit to better serve its clients, he said.
North America has great business potential and First Bank aims to make the region a key profit driver, First Bank president Grace Jeng (鄭美玲) said.
To that end, First Bank is to open branches in Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco next year, raising the number of offices in the US to 11, Jeng said.
Interest spreads average 2 to 3 percent in the US market, higher than 1.5 to 2 percent in Taiwan, Jeng said.
First Bank is also to add offices in Germany, Cambodia and Indonesia, so overseas lending could increase by double-digit percentage points from this year, she said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained