The exposure of Taiwanese financial institutions to troubled Chinese property giant Evergrande Group (恆大集團) totaled NT$2.21 billion (US$79.75 million) as of the end of July, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
The amount constituted banks’ loan exposure of NT$500 million and NT$1.71 billion in Evergrande shares invested through domestic or offshore funds, the commission said.
While two local banks had exposure to Evergrande, they had set aside provisions for bad debts, Banking Bureau Chief Secretary Phil Tong (童政彰) told a news conference in New Taipei City.
Photo: Reuters
No Taiwanese insurer or securities firm had invested in Evergrande, Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Chang Yu-hui (張玉煇) said.
Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director Kuo Chia-chun (郭佳君) said that securities brokerages also had no direct exposure to Evergrande, but investment trust firms did through their fund products.
As of the end of July, 44 domestic funds had invested a combined NT$1.26 billion in Evergrande, which was 0.64 percent of their total investment of domestic funds, the commission said.
Forty-one offshore funds had invested a combined NT$451 million in Evergrande as of July 31, 0.39 percent of their total investment of offshore funds, it said.
The Chinese government is assembling a group of accounting and legal experts to examine the finances of Evergrande, a potential precursor to a restructuring of the world’s most indebted developer, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
The report came after the Hong Kong-listed firm said in an exchange filing yesterday that it faces “tremendous” liquidity strains.
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