Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday said it has gained Prudential Financial Inc’s approval to delay its purchase of the US company’s Taiwanese unit as it awaits the Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC) approval of the acquisition.
“We keep in close contact with the US company and update it about our latest communication with the FSC,” Taishin Financial president Welch Lin (林維俊) told a virtual investors’ conference in Taipei.
Lin did not reveal how much additional time Taishin Financial would be granted, saying that it was striving to obtain the FSC’s approval.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
Taishin Financial on Aug. 11 last year signed an agreement with Prudential Financial Inc to acquire Prudential Life Insurance Co of Taiwan (保德信人壽) for NT$5.5 billion (US$196.55 million) before Monday last week, documents released by Taishin Financial and the commission showed.
Taishin Financial expects the acquisition to boost its profit momentum, but the commission has concerns over its effect on the firm’s financial stability and whether it would have enough capital to comply with stricter solvency rules for insurers in the coming years.
Taishin Financial reported that its securities unit, Taishin Securities Co (台新證券), has become its second-largest profit contributor, accounting for 9 percent, or NT$394 million, of its total profits last quarter, after its banking arm, Taishin International Bank (台新銀行).
Net fee income totaled NT$4.2 billion last quarter, up 18 percent year-on-year and the highest in a single quarter, Taishin Financial said, attributing the gains to an annual increase of 13 percent in fees from its banking unit’s wealth management and a substantial rise of 103 percent in fees from its securities unit.
However, fees from its credit card business declined 23 percent to NT$325 million, as cardholders shopped abroad less amid the pandemic, while domestic consumption generated relatively lower fees, it said.
Taishin Bank would this year focus on collaborating with retail channels, such as department stores and online stores, to boost its fee income, the conglomerate said.
The banking unit’s net interest margin rose to 1.13 percent, one basis point lower than at the end of last year and down from 1.21 percent a year earlier, Taishin Financial data showed.
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