台新金控

Continuing its defense against the spread of COVID-19, Taishin Financial Holding Co., Ltd. (TFHC) today held its 2Q21 analyst meeting online. TFHC’s President Welch Lin, CFO Carol Lai, and Chief Investment Officer Eric Chien, alongside Taishin Bank’s Wholesale Banking Group CEO Sharon Lin, and Retail Banking Group CEO Wilson Chou jointly presented at the live webcast to address the operating results of 1H21. Welch Lin revealed that despite Taiwan having been struck by a new wave of the pandemic in mid-May, TFHC nevertheless recorded solid growth in 1H21, up by 81.4% YoY (or by 13% YoY when excluding the one-time items that resulted from the completion of the Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc. acquisition and the initiation of the divestment of Taishin’s Chang Hwa Bank stakes in June). The Group delivered a net income after tax of NT$12.9bn. The EPS was NT$1.10, the ROE was 15.97%, and the book value per common share was NT$14.41. Heading into the second half of the year, further growth is expected for SME loans and wealth management business as the vaccination coverage increases and the pandemic restrictions ease.

Welch Lin pointed out that in 1H21 TFHC’s net interest income grew 5% YoY and net fee income increased by 15.9% YoY, lifted by strong securities operations in brokerage and underwriting. Subsidiary Taishin Bank’s total loan grew by 9.8% YoY and its total deposit growth reached 7.6% YoY, with a 79.7% loan-to-deposit ratio. The Bank’s credit card business remains a leader of the industry with over 160,000 merchants served and nearly 4.05 million active cards. Subsidiary Taishin Securities’ 1H21 net income after tax was NT$830mn (an amount that has more than tripled when compared with 1H20), while its brokerage business captured a record 2.5% market share in June. The Group maintained a strong capital position, with FHC CAR at 126.9% and bank BIS at 15.1%. The Bank's asset quality remained benign, with NPL% improving at 0.12% and coverage at 1084.9%.

In regards to overseas expansions, Taishin opened its Bangkok representative office on June 28th. The Labuan Branch and Kuala Lumpur Marketing Office are ready to open immediately after the pandemic restrictions are eased in Malaysia. Additionally, the opening of a Long An Branch in Vietnam is also underway. Most notably as regards overseas retail banking, the Singapore Branch received approval in early April from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its application to conduct private banking business.

Welch Lin also mentioned that on June 30th, TFHC completed its acquisition of Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc. (POT), which was renamed Taishin Life Insurance Co., Ltd (Taishin Life) on August 10th. The unveiling ceremony of Taishin Life’s red marquee at its headquarters on August 23rd marked the official launch of Taishin Life’s products and services. Welch Lin emphasized that Taishin Life (previously known as POT) had in the past, for 10 consecutive years, earned recognitions from the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) as a Model Company and had also been assessed as a top performer (ranking in the top 20% of all financial institutions) by the FSC for the “Implementation of Treating Customers Fairly Principles.” The Group is committed to making Taishin Life stand out as an exemplary subsidiary by enhancing its product offerings and investment returns, with a goal of creating synergy and growing Taishin Life into a full-service insurance company.

As regards the highly-watched disposal of TFHC’s Chang Hwa Bank (CHB) shares, Welch Lin stated that Taishin had made a commitment to the FSC to complete the divestment within six years of initiating the process in June and had agreed, for the entirety of that duration, to forego all other shareholder’s rights except for receiving dividends from CHB. The shares’ disposal will be carried out in such a way as to avoid impacting the CHB stock price, either through block trades or auctions or through the issuance of exchangeable bonds or exchangeable preferred shares.