Taiwanese financial holding companies increased their overall overseas exposure — including lending, investments and interbank transactions — to NT$27.38 trillion (US$845.69 billion) in the first quarter, data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Commission showed yesterday.
The 15 financial holding companies’ overall exposure in overseas markets at the end of March rose by NT$1.03 trillion from NT$26.35 trillion at the end of last year, as the firms increased overseas lending and beefed up their overseas investments, the commission said.
It said that first-quarter exposure was the highest in 36 quarters since such data started to be released in the second quarter of 2015.
Photo: Reuters
Financial holding companies’ top 10 markets for overseas exposure remained the same in the first quarter as the previous quarter. They were, in descending order: the US, China, the UK, France, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada and the United Arab Emirates, the commission’s data showed.
In the first quarter, the companies raised their US exposure by NT$464.59 billion to NT$9.6 trillion, as they increased their investments in that market, the commission said.
Overall, their US exposure accounted for 35.08 percent of total overseas exposure, hitting a new high, it said.
The companies also saw their exposure to China rise to NT$2.21 trillion at the end of March, up from NT$2.19 trillion at the end of last year, as a decline in investment in China was offset by increases in lending and interbank transactions there, the commission said.
However, the ratio of their exposure to China compared with all overseas exposure dropped from 8.33 percent to 8.07 percent, an all-time low, it said.
Financial holding companies’ combined exposures to the UK, France, Australia, South Korea and Hong Kong were each above NT$1 trillion last quarter, while their combined exposure to Japan had been accelerating over the past few quarters and hit NT$987.63 billion at the end of March, the commission’s data showed.
The increase in exposure to Japan indicated a shift in companies’ appetite for the East Asian market following Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) launch of new wafer fabs early this year, the commission said.
TSMC expanding its footprint in Japan has prompted several Taiwanese banks, including E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行), Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) and Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) to set up new branches or representative offices in Japan, the commission said.
Compared with the first quarter of last year, financial holding companies’ overall exposure to the US at the end of March increased the most year-on-year, by NT$1.12 trillion, followed by an increase of NT$169.12 billion in exposure to Australia and NT$129.89 billion to South Korea, it said.
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
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
RSS