Chung Shing still unsold

The government failed for a third time to sell Chung Shing Bank (中興銀行) after dragging out the latest auction for the lender, which has an estimated NT$88.5 billion (US$2.6 billion) in non-performing assets. Extended negotiations with two unidentified bidders broke down, said Johnson Chen (陳戰勝), president of the Central Deposit Insurance Corp (中央存保), which is managing the sale. "There's still a significant gap between the market's demand and what the government is offering," Chen said. The government may take a month to revise the portion of the estimated losses it's willing to share with the buyer, Chen said, because "both groups expressed a high degree of interest."