Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the nation’s biggest financial services provider, saw its net profit plunge 80 percent year-on-year to NT$6.88 billion (US$225.6 million) in the first quarter of this year, as its flagship unit Cathay Life Insurance (國泰人壽) drifted into the red due to its massive foreign exchange losses.
The life insurer lost NT$2.34 billion in the first three months after incurring losses due to the volatility in the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, the insurer said on Wednesday.
The NT dollar appreciated 2.18 percent against the US dollar in January, as traders expected the US Federal Reserve to slow the pace of its rate hikes, the insurer said.
Photo: CNA
However, the local currency depreciated rapidly versus the greenback in February, as high inflation and strong employment in the US prompted market speculation that the Fed might raise interest rates again, the insurer said.
The volatility in rates caused hedging costs against foreign exchange risks to rise and led to significant losses at Cathay Life Insurance, it said.
Cathay Life Insurance registered a loss of NT$2.6 billion for the first two months of this year, although it turned a profit of NT$260 million last month by using proxy hedging tools to manage its foreign exchange costs and by generating more recurring income, it said.
The life insurer said its foreign exchange reserves topped NT$42 billion at the end of last month, which would help absorb foreign currency losses and give it more flexibility in management.
However, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) saw its cumulative net profit rise 33 percent annually to a record NT$9.17 billion in the first quarter, after rate hikes by Taiwan’s central bank helped it gain 25 percent additional net interest income from a year earlier, the company said.
As private consumption rebounded after the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank recorded rising credit card spending and earned more net fee income, it said.
Although the bank ended its 10-year co-branded credit card partnership with Costco Wholesale Taiwan Ltd, it introduced a new credit card to retain customers.
The lender said it had 6.38 million valid credit cards in circulation as of the end of last month, the highest among its peers.
Cathay Century Insurance Co (國泰世紀產險) registered a net loss of NT$580 million during the first quarter, due to compensation payments to COVID-19 policyholders, it said.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
RSS