Local banks’ combined profit grew in March, for the first time since May last year, thanks to an increase in investment gains and interest income, data released by the Financial Supervisory Commission on Thursday showed.
The banks’ combined pretax profits grew 76 percent year-on-year to NT$32 billion (US$1.15 billion) in March, ending 10 consecutive months of annual declines, the data showed.
Banks recorded an annual increase of NT$14.25 billion in combined investment gains as financial markets boomed, while their net interest income rose by NT$1.4 billion, the data showed.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
In the first quarter, banks’ pretax profits rose 10.9 percent year-on-year to NT$89.76 billion, it showed.
Domestic bank branches saw their combined pretax profits rise 25 percent year-on-year to NT$59.9 billion in the first quarter, accounting for 66.8 percent of all profits, while banks’ offshore banking units, overseas branches and operations in China reported annual declines of 3 percent, 23 percent and 55.5 percent in pretax profits respectively, the data showed.
Overseas branches’ declining profits could be attributed to several banks setting higher provisions for bad loans in Hong Kong, while fluctuating exchange rates between the Chinese yuan and US dollar caused a drop in profits at Chinese branches, the commission said.
Banks’ non-performing loans totaled NT$72.5 billion as of the end of March, up NT$1.8 billion from a month earlier, while their non-performing loan ratio remained flat at 0.23 percent, the data showed.
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