Onshore yuan-denominated deposits last month slid for the 12th consecutive month to 162.529 billion yuan (US$22.3 billion), a 2.28 percent decline from a month earlier and the lowest in nine-and-a-half years, data released by the central bank showed yesterday.
The monthly decrease of 3.795 billion yuan from 166.324 billion yuan in June came as investors continued to lose interest in the Chinese currency amid deteriorating sentiment toward the country’s economy and growing worries about its financial turmoil.
Onshore yuan deposits include those at local banks’ domestic banking units (DBUs) and those at offshore banking units (OBUs) in Taiwan.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Central bank data showed that yuan deposits at DBUs decreased 5.71 percent from the previous month to 127.544 billion yuan, while those in OBUs increased 12.65 percent to 34.985 billion yuan.
While the US Federal Reserve’s rate hike cycle is widely expected to be nearing its end, US dollar deposits have continued to attract interest among institutional and individual investors given its bigger interest spread compared with yuan deposits, the central bank said.
Based on information provided by the central bank, Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) offers the highest interest rate in Taiwan for one-month yuan deposits at 3.05 percent, while Sunny Bank (陽信銀行) provides the highest rate for three-month deposits at 1.9 percent.
The highest interest rate for six-month, nine-month and one-year yuan time deposits are 2.1 percent at the Bank of Kaohsiung (高雄銀行), 1.35 percent at Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) and 2.2 percent at Sunny Bank respectively, the data showed.
In other news, the Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday said that 22 institutional investors in Taiwan had bought a combined NT$170 million (US$5.32 million) of corporate bonds issued by financially troubled Chinese property giant Country Garden Holdings Co (碧桂園).
Country Garden failed to pay two US dollar bond issues worth US$22.5 million that were due on Aug. 6, and suspended trading of 11 of its domestic bonds from Monday.
The 22 Taiwanese investors had bought Country Garden bonds through five Taiwanese banks, but they are not those that defaulted, the commission said.
Meanwhile, domestic investment trust companies have a combined NT$1.7 billion exposure to Hong Kong-listed Country Garden, it added.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS