State-run First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) is seeking expansion opportunities in China, Southeast Asia and Africa this year to boost its earnings abilities after overseas operations generated decent profits last year.
The conglomerate plans to set up five banking offices in China this year once Taiwan and China give the go-ahead, likely following a meeting of bilateral banking regulators next month, company chairman Tsai Ching-nian (蔡慶年) said last week.
First Financial favors rural areas of Henan Province for those outlets, enabling the group’s main subsidiary First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) to further tap the Chinese market and satisfy demand Taiwanese peers have opted to ignore, Tsai said.
The company plans to create a holding company to run the outlets once it has six of them, Tsai said.
Meanwhile, the bank is awaiting regulatory approval for its second branch in Chengdu, China, and is looking for partners to facilitate expansion in the massive Chinese market, Tsai said.
He added that First Bank prefers to own stakes of 70 percent to 80 percent in potential joint ventures.
Myanmar tops choices for overseas expansion elsewhere in Asia, Tsai said, after its government said it would allow foreign lenders with existing representative offices to acquire local peers or upgrade to branches this year.
“First Financial will take advantage of the regulatory easing,” Tsai said.
Africa represents another opportunity for overseas expansion, with an increasing number of Taiwanese firms establishing a foothold there and only one African state slipping into recession last year, despite the global slowdown, Tsai said.
Overseas operations underpinned an expansion of 6.2 percent in loans last year at First Financial, raising its net interest margin by 11 basis points, even though the stagnant economy and low interest rates squeezed profitability at home, First Financial investor relations head Annie Lee (李淑玲) told an investors’ conference yesterday.
Net income rose 35.5 percent year-on-year to NT$10.13 billion (US$348 million) last year, as profits at First Bank more than offset losses at its insurance, securities and investment trust units, Lee said.
First Financial gave a conservative guidance for this year, with overall lending projected to grow 3 percent and net interest margin to rise by 5 to 7 basis points, Lee said.
“The targets, set last quarter, may need to be revised upward after major economic bellwethers turned out stronger than expected this year,” Lee said.
First Financial shares closed flat at NT$18.9 on Wednesday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
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