KGI Bank (凱基銀行), a subsidiary of China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), on Monday announced that its board of directors has approved an investment of NT$700 million (US$22.7 million) for a 7 percent stake in Next Bank (將來銀行), a planned Web-only bank led by Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and its partners.
KGI would be one of three financial institutions to have a stake in Next Bank.
Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) and Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) earlier this month announced that they would invest NT$2.51 billion and NT$1 billion for a 25.1 percent stake and a 10 percent stake respectively in the Web-only bank.
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), the parent company of Shin Kong Life, last week said that investing in Next Bank could help it build new marketing channels, save on the high operating costs of conventional branches, expand its business ecosystem and develop new business models.
Shin Kong Financial also aims to target young customers, as foreign surveys have shown that people younger than 35 constitute 80 percent of Internet banks’ clientele in overseas markets.
Local Chinese-language media have reported that DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) and Citibank Taiwan Ltd (台灣花旗) are also interested in investing in Next Bank.
Both declined to comment.
EasyCard Corp (悠遊卡) has not finalized its investment in Next Bank, although former chairman Kenneth Lin (林向愷) last year said that it would invest between NT$300 million and NT$500 million in the Web-only lender.
Supermarket chain operator Pxmart Co Ltd (全聯實業) has also remained silent on the size of its planned investment in Next Bank.
The Financial Supervisory Commission is to issue two licenses for Web-only banking services this year. Next Bank is expected to compete with two potential rivals: Line Financial Taiwan Corp’s (台灣連線金融科技) Line Bank and a team led by Waterland Financial Holdings Co (國票金控) and Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
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