Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) remained the most profitable financial services provider in Taiwan in the first three months of the year by posting a record-high net income of NT$20.03 billion (US$641.17 million).
Net profit soared 44.48 percent from the same period last year, with earnings per share (EPS) in the first quarter standing at NT$1.96, also the highest among its peers, Fubon Financial Holding said in a statement.
The company attributed the strong results to robust growth in its life insurance unit, Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), which generated NT$13.51 billion profit in the quarter, up 133 percent year-on-year because of investment gains.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the nation’s top financial services provider by assets, also said strong growth in its life insurance business helped net income in the first quarter grow 46 percent from a year earlier to NT$18.04 billion, or NT$1.42 per share.
Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd (國泰人壽) posted NT$12.42 billion in net profit during the January-to-March period, up 90 percent from the same period last year, which helped cement its parent company as the second-most profitable in the first quarter among the nation’s 15 listed financial holding firms.
The third-most profitable was state-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), which earned NT$8.21 billion last quarter, or NT$0.66 per share.
Mega Financial was followed by CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), which posted net income of NT$9.77 billion, or NT$0.64 per share.
China Development Financial Holding Co (中華開發金控) and Jih Sun Financial Holding Co (日盛金控) both posted EPS of NT$0.18 for the first quarter — the lowest among Taiwan’s listed players — with their net income standing at NT$2.73 billion and NT$563 million respectively, the companies’ statistics showed.
Overall, the nation’s listed financial holding firms have posted close to NT$86 billion net income in the first quarter, up about 22 percent from a year earlier, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a note yesterday.
Yuanta said the strong growth was mainly driven by equity investment by financial holding companies’ insurance units, while bank-centric holding companies, such as Mega Financial and CTBC Financial, benefited from their overseas operations, it said.
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