Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co (合庫金庫), which is at the top of the nation’s banking industry in terms of the number of branches it controls, prefers to keep them all open despite the increasing popularity of Internet banking, chairman Jason Liao (廖燦昌) said yesterday.
The decision demonstrates Liao’s ambition to direct the state-run financial conglomerate in a stable and conservative fashion.
Some branches of the company’s main source of income, Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行), might not generate profits given the nation’s overcrowded and fragmented banking market.
The bank owns nearly 300 branches overseas and in Taiwan.
Taiwan Cooperative Financial shut down several branches to save costs under the stewardship of former chairman Leon Shen (沈臨龍) as an increasing number of clients are choosing to do their banking online.
This global trend is driving major lenders to cut the number of banks in towns and cities.
“I don’t see the need for downsizing as local banks can continue to provide customers with services irreplaceable by technology,” Liao told reporters on the sidelines of a banking forum in Taipei.
COEXISTENCE POSSIBLE
In the same way that traditional grocery stores are able to coexist with modern convenience stores in less populated areas, local banks can seek organic growth even if technology shakes up the industry, he said.
There is room for individual branches to strengthen operations and earnings if they can stay in the black, as many clients still rely on local banks for payment, financing and wealth management, Liao said.
Cross-selling efficiency enhancement is a more urgent and critical task for the bank-focused group, he said.
Taiwan Cooperative Financial also owns a life insurance unit, a securities house and an asset management firm, among other subsidiaries.
The conglomerate understands the rising importance of Internet banking and the group is set to engage in emerging opportunities, he said.
However, third-party payment services might not gain dominance in the domestic market anytime soon given the convenience of the traditional banking network, he said.
“Third-party payments are the most popular method in Kenya due to the lack of a traditional banking system in the African country. In Taiwan, people have quick, easy access to automatic teller machines and other banking facilities,” he said.
Taiwan Cooperative Bank is not eager to establish subsidiaries in China although it is qualified to file an application as it owns two profitable branches there, Liao said.
NOT COMPETITIVE
While a subsidiary can engage in retail banking, Liao said he did not think Taiwanese banks could compete with local Chinese lenders.
A subsidiary would also require a higher capital base which is beyond Taiwan Cooperative Bank’s current capabilities, Liao said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS