State-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) yesterday said it expects profit momentum to stay healthy this quarter after net income in the first three quarters surged almost twofold year-on-year, thanks to strong wealth management and trading operations.
Mega Financial president Hsiao Yu-mei (蕭玉美) gave the positive guidance during an online investors’ conference.
“Mega Financial saw its net income soar 98 percent to a record high of NT$27.03 billion [US$865 million] in the first three months, or earnings of NT$1.92 per share, making it the most profitable among state-run peers,” Hsiao said.
Photo courtesy of Mega Financial Holding Co
Hsiao attributed the showings to stable core banking businesses as well as advances in wealth management and trading operations.
Cross-selling and other income enhancing strategies also bore fruit, she said.
Profit momentum would be sustainable this quarter and beyond, with interest rates hovering at similar levels at home and abroad, allowing its banking subsidiary, Mega International Bank (兆豐銀行), to take further advantage of interest rate differences between Taiwan and the US to rake in currency swap income, Hsiao said.
Currency swap profit amounted to NT$11.33 billion in the first nine months, helping lift overall trading gains by 2.8 times. Mega Bank reported a 55 percent increase in net income.
Wealth management expanded 22 percent, lending support to a 7 percent increase in fee income, the company said in a statement, adding that the world gradually emerged from a bear market seen last year.
As a result, Mega Securities Co’s (兆豐證券) net income expanded almost threefold while profit at the venture capital unit exploded 37.14 times, it said.
However, the non-life insurance wing Chung Kuo Insurance Co (兆豐產險) remained a drag, incurring a net loss of NT$1.55 billion linked to ill-fated COVID-19 policies, it said.
The figure represented a sharp easing from NT$5.6 billion losses a year earlier.
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