Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (
First half earnings rose slightly to NT$7.97 billion, representing 46 percent of its annual forecast of NT$17.2 billion.
"We're very satisfied with the performance. And I have full confidence in our ability to reach the financial forecast for the year," Steve Chou (周榮生), the company's retail group president told an investors conference yesterday.
Chou assured investors that the company's growth momentum would continue through the latter half of the year, despite posting an investment loss in stock markets of NT$1.1 billion in the second quarter, which "is the main reason for the profit drop."
Chou hailed wealth management services as the company's most profitable unit, with profits in the first half rocketing to NT$4.9 billion, up 79 percent from a year earlier.
The wealth management unit is expected to rake in net profit of NT$3 billion by year-end, he added.
Operator of the nation's largest credit card issuer Chinatrust Commercial Bank (
The company has also shown ambition in exploring the market for cash-advance cards by heavily investing in marketing.
"[Cash cards] will be a cash cow as the overall market will grow at a two-digit rate per year to 2007, when the market scale is expected to reach NT$400 billion," Chou said.
After joining the cash card market last year, Chinatrust had issued 530,000 cards as of the end of June, making it the nation's third-largest card issuer among 34 players.
Chou praised the company's merger with Grand Commercial Bank (
"Since we introduced Chinatrust Commercial's operation model into Grand Commercial half a year ago, it has shown marked growth," said Perry Chang (
Asked about future expansion plans, Chou said the company would focus on strengthening its banking unit and "we'll take part in bidding for Chung Shing Bank (
It is too early to predict whether the company's participation in the bidding is a good move, according to Crippen Lee (
"The key will lie in how much money it spends to secure the deal," he said.
Lee said the company's performance in the first half of the year fell short of expectations due to stock market fluctuations but it should be able to reach its profit goal this year.
Shares of Chinatrust Financial rose NT$0.2 to close at NT$34.2 on the TAIEX yesterday.
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