Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan Ltd (渣打銀行) yesterday launched private banking services with the goal of doubling its assets under management within three years.
The global financial services provider said it saw substantial market potential in Taiwan because it has seen capital returning since the government cut the inheritance tax to a flat rate of 10 percent.
The company will take a leading role in “private banking in Taiwan and [hopes to double] our assets under management over the next three years,” Peter Flavel, global head of Standard Chartered Private Bank, told a media briefing.
Flavel said the number of high-net-worth Taiwanese has increased by two digits and is expected to double by 2012.
Susan Wen (溫明芬), general manager of the company’s private banking, said her department would target clients with investable assets above US$1 million.
To that end, Wen said the bank would add 100 fund managers globally with at least 10 years of experience in the next 12 months.
Its private banking services will encompass a full range of value-added advisory services including art, real estate and other investments, Wen said.
Together, high-net-worth clients in Asia, Africa and the Middle East owned US$7.4 trillion in assets last year, accounting for 33.7 percent of the group globally, Wen said. The figure should rise to US$13.5 trillion in 2013, she 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
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