TAIPEI: Mega Financial Holding Co, the nation’s most profitable state-run financial services provider, is eyeing medium-sized life insurance companies and retail-focused banks as it seeks to grow into a regional powerhouse.
“Mega Financial Holding aims to increase its earnings this year after achieving a record profit last year,” chairman Mckinney Tsai told a news conference at its Taipei headquarters here the other day.
The trade financing-focused conglomerate reported NT$30.2 billion (US$958.52 million) in net income last year, or earnings per share of NT$2.43, as a recovering economy at home and abroad boosted cross-border trade, Tsai said.
Fubon Financial Holding Co, Cathay Financial Holding Co and CTBC Financial Holding Co had better results, as their life insurance subsidiaries all made significant contributions, Mega Financial Holding president Wei Meei-yeh said.
Mega Financial Holding aims to expand into the life-insurance business if it can find ideal acquisition candidates, the company said.
The group remains interested in expanding its client base by reaching out to more individual customers. In other words, banks that specialize in consumer banking are also desirable, it said.
The expansion plans fall in line with reports that the Financial Supervisory Commission wants Mega Financial Holding to develop into a regional player given its relatively deep international exposure compared with its domestic peers.
Mega Financial Holding can apply for capital increases of NT$15 billion and NT$20 billion, and carry out acquisition plans within three months once it secures a target, the company said.
The company has a positive view about the business landscape moving forward, as the US economy has fared well, while Europe and Japan are showing signs of stabilization, which is favorable for exports.
However, GDP growth in China, which accounts for more than 40 percent of Taiwanese exports, is slowing and Mega Financial Holding appears to be affected.
JPMorgan Securities recently assigned a “neutral” rating for Mega Financial Holding, adding that interest margins are its main source of income.
The group posted NT$2.78 billion in net profit in January, or NT$0.22 per share, the company said in a stock exchange filing last month.
Mega Financial Holding shares closed down 0.61 percent at NT$24.55 yesterday, weaker than the TAIEX’s 0.28 percent fall, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
