SinoPac Financial Holdings Co’s (永豐金控) banking and securities units reported mixed performance for the first half of the year, as rate hikes worldwide boosted the bank’s interest-based income, but also affected global stock markets, the company told an investors’ conference in Taipei yesterday.
Bank SinoPac’s (永豐銀行) net income grew 27 percent to NT$7.5 billion (US$246.43 million) for the first six months, as its net interest income reached a record-high NT$6.68 billion in the second quarter, while first-half interest income expanded 17.2 percent year-on-year to NT$12.56 billion, the bank said.
Its profitability gauge, net interest margin (NIM), rose to 1.19 percent at the end of June, up from 1.07 percent at the end of March and compared with 1.04 percent a year earlier, thanks to central banks’ interest rate hikes, it said.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
“We expect our NIM to grow by at least 10 basis points for the whole of this year, from the end of last year,” Bank SinoPac president Eric Chuang (莊銘福) said.
Despite weakening financial markets, which generally lead to a decline in a bank’s wealth management business, SinoPac’s wealth management unit posted 3 percent annual growth in net fee income, it said.
In contrast, SinoPac Securities Co’s (永豐金證券) net income plunged 63 percent to NT$892 million for the first half of the year, while capital gains plummeted 85 percent to NT$106 million and revenue dropped 22 percent to NT$4.69 billion, as local equities performed poorly, company data showed.
The securities firm attributed the fall in net income to a double-digit percentage drop in stock market turnover in the first half of the year.
In the first six months, SinoPac Financial’s net income fell 4.2 percent to NT$8.22 billion from a year earlier, it said.
However, its cumulative net income in the first seven months had already returned to positive territory, at NT$10.31 billion, making it the only financial holding firm among its local peers to do so, president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) said.
The company also expects the central bank to continue to raise rates this month, and the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish comments last week indicated that it would continue rate hikes, Chu said.
“Investment will be more difficult by the end of the year, so we will stick to a conservative approach,” he said.
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RSS