Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), Taiwan’s second-largest financial service provider by assets, earned NT$2.84 billion (US$96.59 million) in net income last month, a significant rise from the NT$2.25 billion it earned in August, as financial markets stabilized somewhat, the company said in a stock filing yesterday.
The improvement came even though the conglomerate had to set aside NT$650 million in provision to compensate for a possible earnings shortfall at affiliated Taiwan Sports Lottery Corp (運彩科技), the filing said.
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) generated the bulk of earnings, NT$2.27 billion, last month, compared with a meager NT$700 million in August, as foreign currency exchange losses eased, company data showed.
Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank Co (台北富邦銀行) reported NT$790 million in net income last month, weakening from NT$1.07 billion one month earlier, the filing said.
Net profits at Fubon Financial totaled NT$12.12 billion in the third quarter, almost tripling earnings in the second quarter, thanks to cash dividends sized at NT$8.46 billion this year, company data showed.
Cumulative net income amounted to NT$23.08 billion for the first nine months, or NT$2.43 earnings per share (EPS), according to the filing.
Fubon Financial has been mum on reported plans to acquire a majority share in First Sino Bank (華一銀行) to accelerate its expansion in China after its chairman Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) was seen paying a visit to the Financial Supervisory Commission last week.
Local media said Tsai sought to clarify whether the company’s share acquisition bid falls in line with cross-strait investment rules since China caps foreign stakes in Chinese lenders at 20 percent.
Many suspect that the lender is not subject to the restriction because foreign investors own a majority stake in First Sino. Fubon Financial reportedly plans to make the acquisition via its Hong Kong subsidiary
Separately, state-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) posted NT$1.59 billion in net income last month, raising cumulative profits to NT$17.78 billion, or EPS of NT$1.55, the company said in a stock filing.
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), owner of the nation’s largest credit card issuer — Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中信銀行) — reported NT$1.37 billion in net income last month.
Total earnings equaled NT$15.52 billion as of last month, translating into EPS of NT$1.22, the company said in a statement last week.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
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