StanChart targets Taiwan`s top foreign bank spot

The lender aims to accomplish feat in 3-5 years time as it has recruited 100 more new employees.

In view of the potential market niches after the inking of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between the two sides of Taiwan Strait, Standard Chartered Bank is planning to beef up its strength in both Taiwan and China.

John Peace, the bank`s chairman, said that Standard Chartered would exert more efforts on exploring the markets in the greater Chinese region and takes Taiwan as its talent cultivation center in Asia to train financial personnel to serve Taiwanese enterprises in China and Southeast Asia.

Standard Chartered has already set up special counters at its footholds in China and Vietnam to offer financial services to Taiwanese enterprises there; and its subsidiary in Taiwan takes care of those in India and Indonesia.

Currently Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) is the second largest foreign bank in Taiwan and it hopes to overtake Citibank as the No. 1 on the island in three to five years.

Standard Chartered is a leading international bank, listed on the London, Hong Kong and Mumbai stock exchanges. It has operated for over 150 years in some of the world`s most dynamic markets and earns about 90% of its incomes and profits in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The bank has been expanding rapidly in Taiwan in recent years. After acquiring Hsinchu International Bank, a medium-sized Taiwanese bank, in 2006, Standard Chartered has seen the number of its branches on the island surge to 87, making the bank to set up a subsidiary in Taiwan one year later.

View the full story in News CENS.