Nice Group (
The Nice Group gained control of five of the 11 seats on Waterland's board on June 29 after months of intense competition with board member Hung San-hsiung (洪三雄), who serves as chairman of Taiwan Financial Asset Services Corp (台灣金服公司).
"We will not let Bowa be incorporated into Waterland Financial for the next three years," Chen told reporters at the inauguration of the bank's new headquarters yesterday.
Bowa will endeavor to improve its financial condition in the next three years so that it will have more bargaining chips in either acquiring or being merged with other financial institutions, Chen said.
He said that the group would nominate Bowa's chairman Victor Liu (劉維琪) to head Waterland Financial, and Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) managing director Chen Ming-jen (陳明仁) to take up the presidency of the financial service provider.
Waterland is slated to hold a board meeting next Tuesday to decide on the appointments.
Chen was confident that the Ministry of Finance, which holds two seats on the board, would support the proposed personnel layout, saying that Nice, which gained the majority at the expense of a NT$3 billion (US$93.4 million) investment, fully met the ministry's shareholding requirements for board members.
In response, Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (
The bad-loan-ridden Bowa expects its non-performing loan ratio, including debts under observation, to plunge to 6 percent from 22 percent after completing the dumping of NT$30 billion worth of bad assets and raising NT$5.3 billion from a joint venture formed by Nice and GMAC Commercial Mortgage (GMACCM), Bowa's second-largest shareholder, the bank said.
Nice and GMACCM's shareholding in the bank increased to nearly 40 percent and over 30 percent respectively, from 20 percent and 15 percent previously, after the fundraising venture, Chen said.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
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