Chiao Tung Bank (交通銀行), United World Chinese Commercial Bank (世華銀行) and International Commercial Bank of China (中國國際商銀) will be merged as the government moves to spur more tieups among the nation's more than 400 lenders.
Local media yesterday cited Vice Premier Lai In-jaw (
"The government picked three healthy banks to merge, which will set a good example for others to follow," said Yeh Chin-lin, who manages Grand Cathay Securities Investment Trust Co's flagship Grand Cathay Fund. "The consolidation is much needed in Taiwan's banking industry."
Yet even as the government urges Taiwan's more than 50 banks and almost 400 other lenders to combine, the Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) and Central Trust of China (中央信託局) continue to operate as separate entities a year after the government announced their merger. Concerned by rising bad loans, authorities are increasing pressure on banks to combine.
Shares in the three banks, which together account for 15 percent of Taiwan's Banking and Insurance Index, rose by their daily limit of 7 percent yesterday on the report, which couldn't immediately be confirmed with the Ministry of Finance (財政部).
"So far our bank's board hasn't heard anything and internally we haven't had any discussions about it," said Chen Chi-chu, executive vice president of the International Commercial Bank of China. "If this [report] is really true, there's no harm in it -- basically United World and Chiao Tung are good banks."
Chiao Tung is a development bank with about 35 branches in Taiwan and abroad.
ICBC has 60 branches in Taiwan and another 20 overseas, while United World has 70 branches in Taiwan.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS