State-owned Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) is poised to outperform its China-bound Taiwanese peers by injecting between 400 million yuan (US$58.69 million) and 600 million yuan into upgrading its Shanghai-based representative office after regulators across the Taiwan Strait finalize market access terms, a bank executive said yesterday.
That will far exceed the minimum capital requirement — 200 million yuan — which Chinese authorities currently impose on any foreign banks that open branches in the country, chairman Wang Yao-shing (王耀興) told a media briefing yesterday.
“Our [initial China-bound] investment won’t lag behind our [Taiwanese] peers,” he said.
Wang said the bank didn’t rule out the possibility of adding capital if its Taiwanese rivals also beef up their China-bound investments, or seeking city bank-level strategic partners in China.
He also said the bank would turn a profit in Shanghai after the second year since the regulator there would only allow foreign banks — which must stay in the red for two of their first three years in-country — to operate Chinese yuan-denominated businesses. Wang said the bank was mulling the possibility of launching its second China-based branch in Qingdao, Shandong Province, where many Taiwanese businesses have also made investments, should the weather pose no difficulty to employees.
“We will facilitate a greater China platform to serve Taiwanese businesses, linking our China-based outlets, offshore units and branches in Hong Kong and Singapore,” he said.
Land Bank yesterday posted NT$8.17 billion (NT$254.56 million) in net income for last year, up 8.4 percent year-on-year, or NT$3.25 per share.
Wang said the bank vowed to maintain its earnings per share at above NT$1.5 for this year after its working capital was doubled to NT$50 billion earlier.
The bank yesterday touted its robust performance in syndicated loan businesses after it arranged US$2.5 billion in outstanding syndicated loans to Taiwanese businesses last year — the largest in Taiwan.
In Asia, the bank also arranged US$2.35 billion in outstanding syndicated loans — the 10th largest after Standard Chartered Bank and RBS.
At the end of November, the bank claimed to be the largest domestic mortgage lender with NT$635.4 billion in outstanding loans, or an 11.17 percent market share, Wang said.
“We don’t think there are bubbles in the domestic real-estate market because only high-end properties have seen price hikes,” he said, adding that his bank expects to see steady growth in mortgage lending.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective