Taiwan

Chang Hwa Bank's good market position, established franchise and importance to Taiwan banking system's stability is the basis of Standard & Poor’s latest ratings.

The two banks agree  to grab opportunity of improving China-Taiwan relations to expand business.

Chinatrust Commercial Bank plans to partner Chinese banks through consumer financing education and credit card operations.

HSBC wants to capitalise on the growth of investments in China, India and Malaysia.

A Visa survey revealed that 68 percent of Taiwanese consumers are interested in using Visa Prepaid cards as an alternative payment tool. Furthermore, the Visa Prepaid Card Preference and Usage Survey found that 83 percent of respondents said they were interested in using a Visa Prepaid card because it could help them better control their expenses by limiting their spending to the amount loaded on the card. Forty-three percent of respondents viewed it as an ideal cash/check alternative for everyday purchases, while 38 percent thought it very convenient because they did not need to open an account or hold a credit line with a bank to use Visa Prepaid cards.Among respondents who are interested in prepaid cards, 95 percent noted a preference for the reloadable version over the disposable version.Marco Ma, Country Manager of Visa Taiwan, said, “Visa Prepaid cards enable many consumers – even those without traditional banking relationships – to access preloaded funds to make everyday purchases, pay bills and make purchases online. Visa Prepaid cards can open up secure and convenient card payments to those who do not have bank accounts.”The survey also found that 70 percent of respondents agree to having a ceiling set on the amount loaded on the card.

Chunghwa Post will provide customers access to a global network of 28 million merchants and 1.4 million ATMs with its Visa Debit program.

The bank pushes Taiwanese government to offer reverse mortgage to convert home into cash.

With high net worth individuals set to double by 2012, Stanchart wants to double its AUM.

The Bank of East Asia opened its its newly-formed and wholly-owned wealth management services subsidiary in Taiwan.

The Investment Commission of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan has approved BEA's move to acquire AIG Wealth Management Services Taiwan Limited.

How does a cut in your interest rate from 20 percent to 9 percent sound? Not great if you are a Taiwanese bank, which may see the government cap interest rates for unsecured credit and wipeout a quarter of their profits this year.

It has lost money for two straight months this year, yet Bank of Taiwan plans to start making money by increasing loans at higher interest rates to clients "prone to credit risk". It failed in America, but perhaps Taiwan is different?

Q. The Taiwanese banking sector has experienced huge problems in its NII and profit margins in the past, so how will banks like Chinatrust consolidate their positions in the future?The Taiwanese banking sector has experienced squeezed NII and profit margins during the past 5 to 10 years due to fierce domestic competition, over-liquidity and major industry turmoil including the corporate crisis of 2001 and the cash card and credit card crisis of 2005/06. The performances of Taiwanese banks have been volatile during this period with little growth in scale. Banking consolidations received strong industry and social resistance during the past few years and after the washouts of the two financial turmoils, second-tier private banks with low scale and profitability were gradually merged by global financial institutions such as Citi, ABN Amro, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank during 2007. We expect the financial industry to consolidate its position even further for better development and performance.