State-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) yesterday said that it expects loan growth this year, helped by an export-driven economic recovery, and is eyeing solid gains in wealth management amid a pickup in investment sentiment
“We would seek to remain the best performer in terms of earnings ability this year among state-run peers,” Mega Financial chairman Lei Chung-dar (雷仲達) told an online investors’ conference.
The group would consolidate its leadership position in syndicated loans, corporate banking and foreign currency operations, Lei said.
Photo courtesy of Mega Financial Holding Co
Net income last year surged 81 percent to NT$33.25 billion (US$1.05 billion), or earnings per share of NT$2.37, outperforming other state-run financial institutions, he said.
That is because interest rate hikes at home and abroad shored up interest incomes, while restrictive monetary policies increased funding costs and inhibited loan demand, Mega Financial said.
Hopefully, the situation would ease in the second half of this year after the US Federal Reserve starts to cut interest rates, making corporations more willing to take out loans, it added.
However, the interest rate gap between Taiwan and the US would mitigate, becoming less favorable for foreign exchange swap operations, which generated more than NT$10 billion in trading gains last year, it said.
The company’s banking arm, Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), expects local tech firms to display more borrowing interest this year on the back of a positive technology product cycle and a recent artificial intelligence frenzy, Mega International Commercial Bank president David Hu (胡光華) said.
At the same time, Mega Financial is seeking to increase sales of mutual funds and insurance policies by 30 percent this year, as Taiwanese demonstrate better risk appetite, Mega Financial said, citing avid interest among retail investors for exchange-traded funds.
Mega Bank is collaborating with department stores, airlines, travel agencies and online hotel booking operators to win customers and boost credit card spending, it said.
However, the group’s non-life insurance wing, Chung Kuo Insurance Co (兆豐產險), remained a profit drag due to lingering COVID-19 insurance claims, it said.
Chung Kuo Insurance is contemplating capital increase plans to improve its financial health after setting aside NT$2.8 billion last year, it added.
Mega Financial declined to comment on its dividend policy except that the board of directors will discuss the matter next month.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS