The US remains the largest debtor at Taiwanese banks, with record exposure of US$113.28 billion in the second quarter of this year, the central bank said in a report on Wednesday.
Overall international debt at local banks was US$504.1 billion at the end of June, up 3.76 percent from the end of the previous quarter, the central bank said.
Exposure to US debt on a direct risk basis rose by US$11.8 billion on the back of increasing investment in the US market and Taiwanese deposits in US banks, it said.
Exposure on an ultimate risk basis — meaning consolidated debt after risk transfers — rose to US$108.83 billion from US$99.18 billion in the first quarter, the central bank said.
China remained the second-largest debtor, with direct risk-basis debt rising by US$3.3 billion to US$56.78 billion, the central bank said.
Borrowing by Chinese entities boosted ultimate risk basis debt to US$69.70 billion from US$68.98 billion, it said.
The central bank attributed the change to a strong Chinese yuan and increased investments after China brought COVID-19 outbreaks under control.
However, problems at property developer Evergrande Group (恆大集團) dampened Taiwanese banks’ willingness to invest in China, it said.
Luxembourg came in third at US$44.66 billion on a direct risk basis, followed by Hong Kong (US$35.06 billion), Japan (US$33.46 billion), Australia (US$25.48 billion), the Cayman Islands (US$20.15 billion), Singapore (US$15.91 billion) and the UK (US$13.99 billion).
Vietnam entered the top 10 for the first time at US$13.49 billion.
Taiwanese banks’ exposure to the top 10 debtors reached US$372.27 billion by the end of June, accounting for 73.85 percent of the country’s total outstanding international claims.
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