State-run Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行) has won regulatory approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to set up a branch in Houston, Texas, as it seeks to boost its presence in the US and increase its revenue from overseas operations.
The Houston branch would be the fourth in the US along with Seattle, Los Angeles and New York, and would allow the bank to provide syndicated loans and other services in southern parts of the US, Taiwan Cooperative Bank chairman Lei Chung-dar (雷仲達) said.
Overseas operations are expected to generate 40 percent of revenue this year, while US branches accounted for 24 percent in the first 11 months, up 48 percent from the same period last year, company data showed.
Houston, with an estimated population of 2.3 million, is the most populous city in Texas, which has the second-largest economy in the US after California, making it an ideal location for expansion, Lei said.
The city has a broad industrial base in the energy, manufacturing, aeronautics and transportation sectors, as well as a leading position in healthcare and oil field equipment, he said.
Houston is second, trailing only New York, in number of headquarters for Fortune 500 firms, he said.
The branch would enable Taiwan Cooperative Bank to reach out to large corporations in Houston through participation in syndicated loans, the bank said.
It is also eyeing business opportunities beyond the municipality, as Houston is a gateway to Latin America, the bank said.
The Houston branch would still need the go-ahead from state and federal authorities in the US, which might take more than a year, Taiwan Cooperative Bank said.
Another local lender, First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), still has not cleared US regulatory reviews after the FSC gave it the green light early this year.
Taiwan Cooperative Bank, the banking arm of Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co (合庫金控), is the nation’s largest lender by the number of branches and the progress the bank has gained in legal compliance in the past few years would help smooth its overseas deployment, Lei said.
Taiwan Cooperative Bank also has overseas operations in Hong Kong and Cambodia.
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