Far Eastern International Bank (FEIB, 遠東國際商銀) yesterday said it is targeting loan growth of 4 percent this year, and has set a medium to long-term goal of transforming into a financial holding company.
The lender said it expects its financial performance this year to outpace average sector growth, driven by interest and fee income and investment gains.
The company discussed the goals during its annual general meeting, with shareholders approving plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$0.506 and stock dividend of NT$0.506 per share, which translate into a payout ratio of 98 percent based on last year’s record income of NT$4.17 billion (US$128.87 million).
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
“It is difficult to set a timetable for transforming into a financial holding company, as we have to seek merger and acquisition opportunities, which are beyond the bank’s control,” FEIB president Thomas Chou (周添財) told reporters.
The bank’s total assets last year rose 7 percent to NT$792.5 billion and it had a net worth of NT$58.9 billion, meeting the entry requirement of NT$750 billion for a financial conglomerate.
At the same time, its bad loan ratio declined to 0.108 percent, implying healthy assets.
Profitability gained momentum this year, with pretax profit in the first quarter surging 46 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.24 billion, company data showed.
FEIB attributed the profit improvement to less volatility in the bond market and investment gains.
Like its peers, the bank would press ahead with digital transformation and make online transactions its core operations, as technology reshapes the industry, Chou said.
Online savings accounts last year soared 78 percent and made up 2 percent of overall deposits, the bank said, adding that the proportion rose to 3.5 percent in March.
FEIB’s digital platform offers one-stop services and applications to facilitate deposits and lending, and enhance customer satisfaction, company representatives said.
Digital services aided the 24 percent rise in fee income in the first three months of this year from a year earlier.
The lender also places great importance on corporate banking and drove its cross-border syndicated loans to more than NT$77 billion last year, company officials said.
In other news, EnTie Bank (安泰銀行) shareholders yesterday approved a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$0.38 per share based on last year’s profit of NT$1.1 billion, or earnings per share of NT$0.56.
EnTie Bank said it took pride in boosting its green financing last year by 6.7 percent to NT$10.6 billion in support of efforts to address global warming.
It said it would seek to stay profitable and competitive for the rest of this year while meeting its social responsibility.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
Nvidia Corp’s major server production partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) reported 10.99 percent year-on-year growth in quarterly sales, signaling healthy demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Revenue totaled NT$2.06 trillion (US$67.72 billion) in the last quarter, in line with analysts’ projections, a company statement said. On a quarterly basis, revenue was up 14.47 percent. Hon Hai’s businesses cover four primary product segments: cloud and networking, smart consumer electronics, computing, and components and other products. Last quarter, “cloud and networking products delivered strong growth, components and other products demonstrated significant growth, while smart consumer electronics and computing products slightly declined,” compared with the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
RSS