The US remained the largest debtor to Taiwan’s financial holding firms in the second quarter, despite a significant drop in exposure, data released on Sunday by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) showed.
Financial holding firms’ total exposure to the US reached NT$9.56 trillion (US$319.54 billion) at the end of the second quarter, a NT$792.3 billion decline from the previous quarter.
Analysts attributed the drop, the steepest quarterly decline since records began in 2015, to US tariffs and a stronger New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar.
Photo: Reuters
International exposure includes interbank loans, lending and investment activities by Taiwan’s financial holding firms.
By the end of June, total international exposure by Taiwan’s financial holding firms fell to NT$27.02 trillion — a drop of NT$2.09 trillion, or 7.2 percent, from the end of March — the sharpest quarterly decline since records began.
China remained the second-largest debtor to Taiwan’s financial holding firms, with exposure falling to NT$1.896 trillion at the end of June, down NT$149.9 billion from the previous quarter, driven by simultaneous drops in interbank loans, lending and investments, the FSC said.
After the US and China, France ranked third in exposure at NT$1.28 trillion, followed by the UK at NT$1.27 trillion, Australia at NT$1.19 trillion, Japan at NT$1.13 trillion, South Korea at NT$1.07 trillion, Hong Kong at NT$925.6 billion, Canada at NT$867.4 billion and the United Arab Emirates at NT$561.9 billion, the data showed.
Among the top 10 debtors, Japan was the only country with a quarterly increase in exposure to Taiwanese financial holding firms, rising NT$12.31 billion due to increased investment, the FSC said.
While overseas exposure declined, Taiwan’s financial holding firms increased their domestic exposure by NT$1.12 trillion to NT$47.56 trillion at the end of June, it said.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
RSS