Taiwan's FHCs See Profits Up Nearly 20% to NT$198.37B. in 2013

Taiwan's 15 financial holding companies (FHCs) scored combined profits of NT$198.377 billion (US$6.613 billion) in 2013, presenting an annual rise of 19.45%. Among them, Cathay, Mega Financial Holding Co., CTBC Financial Holding Co., and Fubon Financial Holding Co. each raked in profits of over NT$20 billion (US$666.67 million); while Taishin Financial Holding Co., First, SinoPac Financial Holding Co., Shin Kong, and Hua Nan each gained profits exceeding NT$10 billion (US$333.33 million).

It's noteworthy that CTBC, Mega, SinoPac, Taishin, and Fubon all set record high profits for the year and the other six FHCs, including Cathay, First, Shin Kong, Hua Nan, E. Sun Financial Holding Co., and China Development Financial Holding Co., all witnessed five-year high profits.

A senior executive at CTBC indicates that CTBC Financial raked in profits of NT$27.363 billion (US$912.1 million), the highest on record, which came mainly from the growing income of its wealth management services and fees for remittance of renminbi and the Japanese yen.

Cathay Financial attributes its high profit to good performance of its affiliate—Cathay Life Insurance Co., which generated profits of NT$15.45 billion (US$5.5 million) in 2013, up a whopping annual 367%. Likewise, China Development Financial saw profits up 64% to NT$8.251 billion (US$275.03 million) during the year. (JL)