The exposure of local banks to the US had dropped 3.08 percent as of the end of September from three months earlier as lenders cut deposits with US reserve banks, the first decline in six quarters, the central bank said yesterday.
The reduction outpaced a 2.55 percent drop in exposure to the other nine regions in the top 10 for Taiwan, with the amount for all 10 totaling US$395.47 billion as of the end of the third quarter, central bank data showed.
Local lenders are flexible about allocating US-dollar capital to leverage favorable interest rate environments and other factors, a central bank official said.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
Local banks had US$152.62 billion in US exposure as of Sept. 30, or 28 percent of the overall overseas risk, the data showed.
With the release of the third-quarter figures, the US has been the nation where local lenders have the most exposure for 33 consecutive quarters, the data showed.
China was next with exposure there falling 0.67 percent to US$46.17 billion from the second quarter, as Taiwanese refrained from investing in Chinese-based funds, the official said.
Risk in China was the lowest since the second quarter of 2020, they said.
Exposure to China is on a long-term decline, which is reflected in other data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Commission, as local lenders are cautious about the weak economy there, they said.
South Korea for the first time squeezed into the top 10 last quarter, outranking Singapore by a small margin, the official said.
Exposure in South Korea fell 1.03 percent to US$15.62 billion, with a 4.14 percent drop, or US$15.47 billion less, in Singapore the primary factor, they said.
Exposure to Hong Kong sank the most among the top 10, falling 8.24 percent to US$2.80 billion, the data showed.
A strong US dollar was also a factor behind reductions in local banks’ exposure to Japan and the UK of 2.14 percent and 3.19 percent respectively, the central bank said.
The yen and pound depreciated 3 percent and 3.87 percent respectively against the greenback in the third quarter, it said.
Australia was the only one of the top 10 to buck the downtrend, gaining 1.44 percent, the data showed.
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy hinges on microchips, but the semiconductor sector that produces them has a dirty secret: It is a major source of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. Global chip sales surged more than 19 percent to about US$628 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which forecasts double-digit growth again this year. That is adding urgency to reducing the effects of “forever chemicals” — which are also used to make firefighting foam, nonstick pans, raincoats and other everyday items — as are regulators in the US and Europe who are beginning to
RSS