Almost all local financial conglomerates reported a monthly drop in net profit last month, as their investment and wealth management businesses were affected by a COVID-19 outbreak in the home market.
Except for SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控), whose net profit rose 4 percent sequentially to NT$1.25 billion (US$45.24 million) last month, the 14 other local financial conglomerates said their net profit declined by a high single-digit or double-digit percentage from April.
Cathay Financial Holding Co’s (國泰金控) net profit was halved to NT$7.23 billion last month from NT$14.3 billion in April, as its flagship firm, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), reported a 57 percent fall in profit to NT$5 billion, company data showed.
Its banking arm, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), said that net profit was flat month-on-month at NT$1.95 billion.
Fubon Financial Holding Co’s (富邦金控) net profit slid 19 percent from a month earlier to NT$10.86 billion, as its main subsidiaries — Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) and Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) — reported that net profit fell 19 percent and 37 percent to NT$7.7 billion and NT$1.14 billion respectively, company data showed.
CTBC Financial Holding Co’s (中信金控) net profit declined 26 percent sequentially to NT$3.47 billion last month.
China Development Financial Holding Corp’s (CDF, 中華開發金控) net profit plummeted 64 percent to NT$1.03 billion, as subsidiaries KGI Bank (凱基銀行) and KGI Securities Ltd (凱基證券) reported that net profit plunged 44 percent and 84 percent to NT$250 million and NT$218 million respectively, corporate data showed.
Stock market volatility has risen amid rising COVID-19 infections from the middle of last month, affecting the two units’ investment operations and revaluation of their financial assets, CDF said in a statement.
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) reported a net loss of NT$1.85 billion as its main insurance unit, Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽), posted a net loss of NT$2.28 billion, which was partially offset by a net profit of NT$449 million from its banking arm, Shin Kong Commercial Bank (新光銀行).
Shin Kong attributed the net loss to the New Taiwan dollar’s sharp appreciation last month, leading to foreign-exchange losses at its life insurer, it said.
Overall, the nation’s 15 financial conglomerates made a combined net profit of NT$32.67 billion, down 40 percent from a month earlier, but cumulative profit in the first five months surged 91 percent from a year earlier to NT$280 billion.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last 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 rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
RSS