Taiwan Financial counting on yuan business for expansion

Taiwan Financial aims to accelerate its Asia-Pacific expansion and increase profit from overseas operations.

The conglomerate is confident about growing profits this year after booking NT$7.31 billion (US$246.95 million) in net income last year, more than meeting its target of nearly NT$7 billion, said chairperson Liu Teng-cheng.

The banking arm, Bank of Taiwan will seek to deepen its presence in China this year after setting up its first Chinese branch in Shanghai in July last year, Liu said.

The branch may apply to offer yuan products and services to Taiwanese customers based in China after proving profitable one year after its establishment, Liu said.

Yuan lending operations can help boost interest income because borrowing costs for the yuan are much higher than for the New Taiwan dollar.

Bank of Taiwan posted a net interest margin of below 1 percent last year, lagging behind the industry average of 1.5 percent, as the lender struggled to digest its loanbook totaling NT$3 trillion, the largest among domestic lenders, Liu said.

At home, Bank of Taiwan aims to build up its yuan deposits to 5 billion yuan (US$802.3 million) by the end of the year, topping the 3 billion yuan target of another state-run bank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank.

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