Taiwan's financial holding firms post record net profit in 2019

Taipei, Jan. 13 (CNA) The 15 financial holding companies listed on Taiwan's equity market raked in an aggregate net profit NT$349.99 billion (US$11.70 billion) in 2019, which was a record annual high, according to market statistics.

Among the 15 companies, Cathay Financial Holding Co. was the most profitable in terms of earned income, and Fubon Financial Holding Co. had the highest earnings per share (EPS), the statistics showed.

The aggregate net profit of the 15 companies grew in 2019 by more than 19 percent from a year earlier to NT$349.99 billion, the highest figure ever recorded, on increased cash dividend income and foreign exchange hedging for overseas investments, the data indicated.

Nine of the companies also showed individual record net profits for 2019, namely Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial Holding Co., Yuanta Financial Holding Co., E. Sun Financial Holding Co., First Financial Holding Co., Shin Kong Financial Holding Co., Taiwan Cooperative Financial Co., Hua Nan Financial Holding Co. and Taishin Financial Holding Co., according to the data.

At the top of the list, Cathay Financial reported a 23.1 percent annual increase in net profit to NT$63.81 billion, largely on an improved bottom line of its flagship Cathay Life Insurance Co., the data indicated.

After a strong showing in December, when Cathay Life Insurance posted a 68 percent year-on-year increase in net profit, the company recorded an annual 26 percent growth in net income for the full year to NT$38.26 billion, Cathay Financial said.

Meanwhile, Cathay Financial's banking arm, Cathay United Bank, benefited from a rise in fixed income and an improvement in asset quality, posting a 6 percent annual increase in net income to a record NT$22.49 billion, according to the data.

In terms of EPS, Fubon Financial topped the list for the 11th straight year, with NT$5.48, while Cathay Financial was second with NT$4.76.

According to Fubon Financial, its 2019 net profit grew 23 percent from a year earlier to NT$58.73 billion, after its Fubon Life Insurance Co. posted NT$26.4 billion in net profit, up by an annual 6 percent.

In December, Fubon Life posted NT$1.74 billion in net loss after it assigned a one-time provision of about NT$3 billion to offset the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations, but it remained profitable for the full year.

In 2019, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, the banking flagship entity of the financial holding company, reported an 8 percent annual increase in net profit to NT$20.2 billion on the back of stable growth in interest income.

Among the 15 listed financial holding firms, only the smaller Jih Sun Financial Holding Co. saw a decrease in net profit, recording an 8.4 percent drop to NT$2.31 billion.

Regarding the 2019 EPS of the other companies besides Fubon Financial and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial posted NT$2.20, Mega Financial Holding Co. NT$2.13, Yuanta Financial NT$1.76, E. Sun Financial NT$1.73, First Financial Holding Co. NT$1.55, Shin Kong Financial NT$1.34, Taiwan Cooperative Financial NT$1.33, Hua Nan Financial NT$1.31, Taishin Financial NT$1.19, SinoPac Financial Holding Co. NT$1.10, Waterland Financial Holding Co. NT$0.92, China Development Financial Holding Co. NT$0.88 and Jih Sun Financial NT$0.63.