Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) and Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) yesterday finalized their long-anticipated merger, creating TS Financial Holding Co (台新新光金控), whose combined assets make it the fourth-largest financial holding company in Taiwan.
The new entity, with NT$8.3 trillion (US$282.3 billion) in assets, more than 10 million clients and over 1 million shareholders, aims to become a globally competitive financial group, chairman Thomas Wu (吳東亮) said at a celebration event in Taipei.
“This merger is not just about scale — it is about creating a new growth engine for Taiwan’s financial sector,” Wu said, adding that TS Financial would pursue a “multi-engine” model integrating banking, insurance, asset management and securities to drive balanced development.
Photo: CNA
While the legal merger takes effect immediately, operational integration across subsidiaries is expected to take up to a year, as the group works toward building a unified platform.
The merger marks Taiwan’s largest-ever friendly acquisition in the financial sector by transaction value, and signals a broader shift toward consolidation and scale.
TS Financial now controls 557 branches, 5,000 ATMs and a workforce of 32,000, and operates the most widely used digital banking platform in the nation.
Domestically, Wu said that the company plans to consolidate Taishin International Bank Co (台新銀行) and Shin Kong Commercial Bank Co (新光銀行) into the country’s largest retail banking network, in terms of the number of branches and digital user base.
In the insurance field, 60-year-old Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) is to remain a core subsidiary, with plans to bolster its capital strength and long-term policyholder protection, Wu said.
International expansion, particularly in Asia, is a key goal, Wu said, adding that the group is exploring cross-border opportunities to align with global companies increasingly seeking partnerships with Taiwan.
Citing his role as chairman of the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, Wu said: “Now is the best time for Taiwanese firms to step out and compete internationally. Taiwan’s financial sector must achieve sufficient scale to serve as a strong and reliable backing for our businesses abroad.”
The integration process has already begun. On the asset management front, Taishin Securities Investment Trust Co (台新投信) yesterday approved a share swap to absorb Shin Kong Investment Trust Co (新光投信), marking the first subsidiary consolidation.
Taishin Trust plans to issue 53.37 million new shares to its parent company in exchange for Shin Kong Trust shares, at a ratio of 1.3342 Taishin shares for each Shin Kong share — pending regulatory approval.
Despite optimism about long-term synergies, investors took a cautious stance. Shares of TS Financial dropped 6.3 percent to NT$16.3 yesterday on heavy volume, as the market digested the near-term integration challenges and restructuring costs.
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
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
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
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
RSS