Sat, May 25, 2002 page17

• Bank of Taiwan wants to do business in China

  A VISION The biggest state-run bank plans to submit its application to the MOF for expansion across the Strait so it can improve its services for Taiwanese living in China

  • By Joyce Huang / STAFF REPORTER
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), the nation's biggest state-run bank, will soon submit its application to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to expand into China, the bank's president Lii Sheng-yann (李勝彥) said yesterday.

  "In early May, the bank's board approved a plan to set up branches in Shanghai," Lii told reporters yesterday at the MOF.

  Lii shrugged off media speculation that Chinese authorities are unlikely to approve the bank's application since it explicitly carries the name of Taiwan -- a politically incorrect word in China's eyes -- in its title. Instead, he said "progress on the expansion plan will depend on [how efficient] China's review process is."

  So far, six Taiwanese banks are still awaiting approval from China to establish liaison offices there while two -- Chang Hwa Bank (彰化銀行) and United World Chinese Commercial Bank (世華銀行) -- have been allowed to establish liaison offices in Shanghai and Kunshan respectively and will be able to obtain branch status three years from now.

  The bank is already providing financial services to Taiwanese business people in China through a network of offshore banking units (OBU) run by foreign banks there.

  William Teng (鄧振維), the bank's executive vice president, said yesterday that the bank has signed OBU agreements with most foreign banks in China, which have enough branches in China's major cities to provide services to Taiwanese businessmen.

  "Our bank's transaction efficiency [across the Strait] meets [customer] demand," Teng said.

  Teng added that the bank is currently building a cross-strait money transfer system with China's four government-owned banks -- the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (工商銀行), the China Construction Bank (建設銀行), the Agricultural Bank of China (農業銀行) and the Bank of China (中國銀行) -- to take advantage of the banks' many branches and to provide better service to Taiwanese businessmen there.

  Yesterday, market analysts said that the bank's expansion plan demonstrates that last year's merger plan with the Land Bank of Taiwan (土銀) and Central Trust of China (中信局) has collapsed.

  If the merger was still going ahead, the analysts said, Bank of Taiwan would not need to apply separately for a permit to expand its operations in China.

  Bank of Taiwan may have failed to propose an expansion plan because its would-be partner, Land Bank, has already made a proposal and the three banks would belong to the same yet-to-be-established financial holding company.

  The bank's announcement yesterday echoed Vice Finance Minister Wang Te-san's (王得山) previous revelation that the merger plan had come to an end.

  Lii refused to confirm the news yesterday but said "[the bank] may expand its business scope and establish a financial holding company by itself."

  In a bid to improve its competitiveness, Lii said that the bank may begin offering low-priced financial services, including the lowest interest rate in Taiwan, to expand its customer base in the private sector.

  The bank, which had a 3.34 percent non-performing loan (NPL) ratio as of April, granted over 55 percent of its loans to the government and state-run enterprises. Due to the government's streamlining policies, the bank's lending shrank by NT$80 billion last year.

  For your information

  Bank of Taiwan

  * Bank of Taiwan, the nation's biggest state-run bank, will submit an application to the Ministry of Finance to expand its operations in China. * The bank is already providing sufficient financial services to Taiwanese business people in China through a network of offshore banking units run by foreign banks there. * The bank, which had a 3.34 percent non-performing loan (NPL) ratio as of April, granted over 55 percent of its loans to the government and state-run enterprises.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Manila enhancing defense cooperation with Taiwan: report

  • 2

    Drills focus on stopping enemy landing

  • 3

    Tropical Storm Nari not a threat to Taiwan: CWA

  • 4

    One in four fruit and vegetable samples in Taipei fails safety tests for pesticides

  • 5

    TSMC to start building four new plants