Taiwanese banks’ total pretax earnings in May declined by 17.8 percent year-on-year to NT$27.23 billion (US$920.4 million), due to the persistent effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic activity, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Tuesday.
However, pretax profits at the banks’ offshore banking units and their branches in China grew by 3.4 percent and 35.6 percent from a year earlier respectively, commission data showed.
In Taiwan, profits posted in banks’ domestic banking units and their overseas branches in May fell by 23.7 percent and 44.2 percent year-on-year respectively, due mainly to the allocation of additional loan-loss provisions, and declines in interest revenue and net profit from investing, the data showed.
For the first five months of this year, the aggregate pretax earnings at domestic banks stood at NT$138.62 billion, down NT$22.2 billion, or 13.8 percent, from the same period last year, the data showed.
Meanwhile, domestic banking units contributed NT$80.54 billion to the total pretax earnings, down 17.8 percent year-on-year, while the pretax earnings posted in their overseas branches declined by 34.2 percent to NT$11.78 billion from a year earlier.
In contrast, the banks’ offshore banking units and their Chinese branches posted 2.2 percent and 19.2 percent year-on-year growth in pretax earnings respectively, the data showed.
As of the end of May, total loans extended by Taiwanese banks reached NT$30.62 trillion, up NT$242.1 billion from a month earlier.
Meanwhile, banks’ overdue loans rose NT$1.2 billion from a month earlier to NT$74.9 billion, which translates into an overdue loan ratio of 0.24 percent, the same level as a month earlier and a year earlier, the data showed.
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