Citi Taiwan Ltd (花旗台灣) was last month named this year’s Best International Bank and the Best International Investment Bank in Taiwan by the FinanceAsia magazine.
This is the 25th consecutive year that Citi Taiwan has won the Best International Bank award and the fourth time that it has won the Best International Investment Bank recognition.
After the international finance magazine announced the awards, Citi Taiwan chairman Paulus Mok (莫兆鴻) expressed his appreciation for the recognition.
Photo courtesy of Citi Taiwan Ltd
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the global economy has been severely impacted, and the overall business environment is facing severe challenges. It is not easy for Citi to continue winning awards from an independent institution for a quarter of a century. The awards belong to all Citi Taiwan staff,” Mok said.
Despite a decline in interest rates for US dollar deposits and the effects of the pandemic last year, Citi Taiwan still showed outstanding business performance in its institutional clients group and global consumer banking division.
In addition, its corporate and investment banking arm participated in and completed several major mergers and acquisitions, as well as transactions in capital markets last year.
With the increase in the momentum of Taiwan’s capital markets and transaction volume last year, which attracted considerable foreign investment, Citi Taiwan has come to dominate the custody services market and become the largest custodian bank in Taiwan.
In terms of global consumer banking, Citi Taiwan also introduced digital innovation plans and services to enhance its digital competitiveness, while its wealth management business demonstrated growth momentum.
Citi continues to promote the concept of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) in Taiwan, and supports the government’s “five plus two” innovative industries plan to direct funds into green energy technology, the circular economy and other industries.
According to information from the Financial Supervisory Commission, Citi Taiwan’s loan amount reached about NT$58.8 billion (US$2.13 billion) at the end of last year, ranking first among foreign banks.
In addition, Citi has been paying attention to climate change and held a series of “Citi Empowers Taiwan Youth to Tackle Climate Change” activities with nonprofit organizations from the end of last year to early this year. It invited Citigroup Inc chief sustainability officer Val Smith, and other distinguished speakers in Taiwan and from abroad to share ESG and climate trends, and encourage young people to explore climate change issues in depth.
In the face of the pandemic, to provide employees with a safe and healthy working environment, Citi Taiwan has since last year been implementing remote office and home office programs.
This year, the bank has offered paid leave for employees who get vaccinated — two days per dose — and free consultation for employees. It has also helped employees upgrade their Internet connection at home or subsidized their taxi fares to help them feel at ease while fighting the pandemic together.
On this year’s Citi Global Community Day, Citi called on its employees to support charity meals, and help disabled or disadvantaged people weather these difficult times, demonstrating corporate social responsibility.
With a solid operating performance and active participation in corporate social responsibility (CSR), Citi Taiwan has been recognized by various awards at home and abroad.
Aside from FinanceAsia’s awards, Citi Taiwan has won the Best Bank award from The Asset Triple A for 18 consecutive years. From Reader’s Digest, the bank has won the Gold Award in the Trusted Brand: Credit Card Issuing Bank category for 14 years in a row, and the Gold Award in the Trusted Brand: Finance Managing Bank category for the sixth straight year.
In the CSR field, Citi Taiwan was presented with the Best ESG Award from the Taiwan Banking and Finance Best Practice Awards and won the Best CSR Award from Excellence Magazine last year.
Responding to Citigroup’s refresh strategy, Citi Taiwan chairman Paulus Mok said, “Citi has delivered remarkable and successful performances in Taiwan for nearly six decades. We will remain strongly committed to the Taiwan market and strive to be the best banking partner for our local and multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. As we transition our franchise towards future growth opportunities, we will continue to leverage Citi’s unique global network and innovation capability to offer a broad spectrum of wholesale banking products and services to help our clients achieve sustainable growth and progress.”
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar