SinoPac Financial Holding Co (永豐金控) — one of the nation’s leading financial service providers — yesterday said it would be a challenge for the company to achieve the same level of profitability this year as last year, given intensifying market competition, a high comparison base and increased market regulation.
SinoPac Financial posted NT$12.97 billion (US$412.07 million), or NT$1.45 per share, in net profit last year, representing annual growth of 20 percent, SinoPac said in a statement yesterday.
SinoPac Financial chief executive officer Stan Siao (蕭子昂) said that it would be “very difficult” for the company to generate a new record this year.
Photo: Wang Meng-lun, Taipei Times
“The overall financial environment is very competitive. Last year’s results also build up a high comparison basis for this year,” Siao said at a news conference before SinoPac Financial’s quarterly investors’ conference yesterday.
In addition, because the cross-strait service trade agreement is still stuck in the legislature, Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) — the flagship unit of SinoPac Financial — cannot receive an expected injection of capital from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC, 中國工商銀行) via a private placement, Siao said.
Sinopac Financial recorded net income of NT$1.13 billion, or NT$0.12 per share, last month, representing steady momentum, but a year-on-year decline from the NT$1.42 billion, or NT$0.16 per share, recorded in the same period of 2013.
Bank SinoPac aims to continue the focus on increasing its cross-border business this year, Siao said.
The bank, which posted net income of NT$11.32 billion last year, representing an 18 percent increase from a year earlier, saw net income generated by cross-border business account for 36 percent of its total net income, up from the 29 percent recorded in 2013.
SinoPac Financial is to continue its expansion in Asia by enhancing cooperation with ICBC to develop Asian emerging markets, with leasing business to be its major business focus in the markets in the preliminary stage, Siao said.
Siao said the company has researched the markets in Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Singapore for possible business opportunities.
In addition, Bank SinoPac has received permission from the Financial Supervisory Commission to set up a branch in Shanghai, to be operated by its subsidiary in Nanjing, with the bank set to file an application to Chinese officials after the Lunar New Year holiday at the soonest.
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