CTBC Bank Co (中國信託銀行), the flagship banking arm of CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), has obtained approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to open a representative office in Houston, Texas, the commission said yesterday.
CTBC Bank’s operations in the US consist of a subsidiary and a representative office in Los Angeles, and a branch in New York.
To provide financial services to more Taiwanese investors and help them extend their reach in the US market, the bank plans to set up a representative office in Houston, the FSC said in a statement.
Photo: An Rong Xu, Bloomberg
Taiwanese banks are allowed to open a representative office in foreign markets first to collect market information before the office is upgraded into a branch.
A total of 25 Taiwanese banks have branches in the US market, with three having subsidiaries in place and an additional three running representative offices there, the commission said.
In Texas alone, two Taiwanese banks have branches, it said.
As of December last year, CTBC Bank has 12 branches in overseas markets, including New Delhi; Sriperumbudur, India; New York; Tokyo; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Singapore; Shanghai; Guangzhou; Xiamen; Shenzhen; and two in Hong Kong.
The bank also has subsidiaries in Indonesia, the Philippines, Canada, the US, Japan and Thailand, and representative offices in Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing, Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney and Yangon, Myanmar.
Last year, CTBC Bank’s pretax profit generated from overseas markets topped NT$20 billion (US$615.54 million), accounting for more than 30 percent of its total pretax profit of NT$62.83 billion.
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