Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the nation’s second-largest financial services provider by assets, beat its local peers in overall proficiency ranking last year by pooling the resources of its major subsidiaries to lower risks and boost profitability, a survey released yesterday found.
The annual survey, which has been conducted by the Chinese-language Business Today magazine (今周刊) and Taiwan Finance Association (臺灣財務金融學會) since 2005, grades domestic financial service providers in terms of their financial, management, strategic and operational proficiency.
Peng Jin-lung (彭金隆), a risk management and insurance professor at Shih Chien University, attributed Fubon Financial’s earnings ability to a positive synergy effect from its acquisition of ING Antai Life Insurance Co (安泰人壽).
“The acquisition allows the company to take better advantage of its banking and insurance arms, which helped each other buffer the blow of the global financial crisis in 2008 and strengthen mutual sales amid the economic recovery last year,” Peng told a media briefing.
Peng said not all acquisitions produced positive impact, only those with the right scale.
Fubon Financial president Victor Kung (龔天行) said the company would improve its financial performance for this year after posting NT$2.47 earnings per share last year and NT$2.16 for the first eight months of this year.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) placed second in the survey, although the company, the largest financial services provider by assets, outperformed rivals in expansion strategy overseas.
David Sun (孫至德), an executive vice president at Cathay Financial, said strategy proficiency meant growth potential and the company’s goal was stable growth.
While the company owns the nation’s largest insurance unit, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), it derived most of its income from its banking arm, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), both last year and this year, Sun said.
Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控), which has received a medium ranking in recent years, secured the third place last year because recovering risk appetite boosted profitability for its securities brokerage, Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券).
However, Shen Chung-hua (沈中華), a finance professor at National Taiwan University, said the lack of strong expansion strategy overseas and financial subsidiaries might limit Yuanta Financial’s development.
Chuang Yu-de (莊有德), executive vice president at Yuanta Financial, said the room for overseas expansion was limited for securities brokerages, compared with banks and insurance companies.
Chuang said the company would remain focused on risk management and stable growth.
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