Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) yesterday projected stable profit growth for the rest of this year even though net income in the first half shrank 38.2 percent annually to NT$42.9 billion (US$1.35 billion).
The conglomerate made the cautiously optimistic remarks during an investors’ conference after major subsidiaries reported that business improved amid a relatively favorable operating environment compared with last year.
Fubon Financial president Jerry Harn (韓蔚廷) said he believed China would introduce more stimulus measures to help its stalling economy.
Photo courtesy of Fubon Financial Holding Co
The group estimated its exposure in China at NT$840 billion, but the net sum would be NT$340 billion after factoring in NT$500 billion of assets at its Chinese banking subsidiary Fubon Bank China (富邦華一銀行).
That translates into a small 3 percent of Fubon Financial’s overall assets of NT$10.9 trillion, Harn told investors.
Fubon China incurred minor losses in the first six months after raising its general position at the request of Chinese financial regulators, officials said, adding that the conglomerate has no exposure to troubled Chinese developers.
Photo: An Rong Xu, Bloomberg
The nation’s most profitable financial conglomerate attributed the cash woes plaguing Chinese developers and local governments to years of COVID-19 lockdowns and the property sector’s overexpansion, but said it does not expect the problem to escalate into a financial storm.
“We have been cautious about China’s property sector and have focused on lending to Taiwanese firms there and Chinese national enterprises,” Harn said.
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) would see its income bolstered this quarter by cash dividends, which would be higher than last year, officials said.
The insurer hesitated to lower its hedging cost projection, saying they would amount to 100 to 150 basis points this year and would be higher than last year, as major central banks have no intention of easing interest rates in the near term.
By contrast, Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行) might see its wealth management business grow 20 percent this year, faster than earlier predicted, officials said.
“Investment sentiment has improved much this year due to fewer black swan events,” officials said, adding that the recovery in financial markets at home and abroad also lent support.
While the group’s debt position remains in the red, stock holdings have turned positive, officials said.
Like other lenders in Taiwan, Taipei Fubon Bank raked in hefty profits from its currency swap operations, which might continue to generate earnings ahead under a similar environment, officials said.
Still, Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險) accumulated losses of NT$3.22 billion in the first half due to lingering COVID-19 claims, although it swung to profit in April, officials said.
Things would gradually brighten at the subsidiary, the nation’s biggest with a market share of more than 20 percent, officials said.
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
RSS