Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) yesterday unveiled a wide range of plans, including issuing higher annual bonuses for employees this year, salary increases and the recruitment of 7,000 new employees to expand business at home and overseas.
The plans came after the nation’s largest financial service provider posted record-high annual net profit of NT$49.8 billion (US$1.57 billion), or NT$3.94 per share, for last year.
“The company will surely offer higher annual bonuses for employees to thank them for their efforts over the past year,” president Lee Chang-ken (李長庚) told a news conference in Taipei.
Some employees in the Cathay Financial’s sales department could receive as much as a year’s salary as a year-end bonus, Lee said.
Meanwhile, other employees could receive about six months of their monthly salary, a company official said.
Cathay Financial also intends to discuss a pay raise plan during a meeting of its compensation committee scheduled for April, Lee said.
Regarding Cathay Financial’s outlook for this year, Lee said it would be difficult for the company to sustain last year’s growth momentum, as its life insurance arm is expected to face market challenges.
However, the company will still demonstrate growth from the stable profits generated by its banking arm and overseas businesses, as the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing monetary stimulus could provide support to local stock markets, Lee said.
Its banking business provided more than 40 percent of Cathay Financial’s overall net income last year, Lee added.
To cope with expanding businesses, Cathay Financial plans to hire about 7,000 new employees this year, including 200 employees in overseas markets, the executive said, adding that it also intends to recruit from 12 to 15 global management associates to help its expansion in China and southeast Asian markets.
The company aims to offer a two-and-half-year training program for management associates and an annual salary of NT$1 million, which is above market standards, Lee said.
Separately, Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the most profitable financial services provider in Taiwan for the sixth consecutive year, yesterday said that it plans to recruit 8,500 employees this year, mostly for its life insurance business.
Fubon Financial, which posted a record-high net income of NT$60.19 billion last year, is to pay an average of between four and six months’ worth of their monthly salary as employee bonuses, while some outstanding employees will receive up to 18 months of their monthly wage.
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