Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) yesterday said it retained the most profitable status among peers after posting a net income of NT$13.98 billion (US$454.4 million) for last quarter when financial markets at home and abroad showed relative stability.
The financial results translated into earnings per share of NT$1.13, as all subsidiaries made contributions except its non-life insurance arm, Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險), which remained unprofitable due to COVID-19 claims, the Taipei-based conglomerate said.
“The group managed to post stable earnings with help from subsidiaries,” Fubon Financial chairman Richard Tsai (蔡明興) said in a statement after an investors’ conference.
Photo: Wu Hsin-tien, Taipei Times
The banking arm, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行), has grown to be Taiwan’s largest private lender by number of branches after its merger with Jih Sun International Bank (日盛銀行) on April 1, Tsai said.
The lender last quarter saw its number of credit cards soar 3.8-fold to more than 800,000, due to a credit card partnership with Costco Wholesale Taiwan Ltd (台灣好市多) that contributed to 80 percent of the increase, it said, adding that credit card spending spiked 19.9 percent year-on-year.
Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) gained noticeable market share and customers after integration with Jih Sun Securities Co (日盛證券) on April 9, Tsai said.
“Synergy benefits would become more evident in the future,” he added.
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) generated NT$7.25 billion in net income, making it the best performer among local peers, but it ranked second in terms of first-year premiums and total premiums, it said.
The life insurance arm made progress in boosting sales of policies paid in installments, lifting their share to 39.2 percent from 18.2 percent, the conglomerate said.
The group’s sales channels accounted for 70 percent of first-year premiums, it said.
Fubon Life Insurance yesterday updated its embedded value, which tumbled 18.2 percent from 2021 to NT$798.6 billion, or NT$64.4 per share, at the end of last year.
The company said the decline was due to capital market volatility weighing on insurance policy sales.
Against that backdrop, the value of new business fell 6.8 percent to NT$16.6 billion, it said.
The conglomerate said it has a neutral view about the local bourse, and it posted NT$16.3 billion in profit last quarter.
It prefers range trading in times of economic uncertainty, it said.
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