Fubon Financial remains most profitable among 15 listed firms
Fubon Financial Holding Co. again recorded the highest net profit out of the 15 firms listed on the local equity market for the first nine months of 2021, industrial statistics showed Tuesday.
For the nine-month period, Fubon Financial posted NT$130.20 billion (US$4.65 billion) in net profit, up 91 percent compared to the previous year.
Fubon Financial's earnings per share (EPS) were also the highest out of the 15, at NT$11.32.
The strong showing made by Fubon Financial came after its insurance and securities units continued to rake in a record high amount of net income.
Fubon Life Insurance, the firm's flagship insurance entity, posted NT$95.15 billion in net profit, up 110 percent from a year earlier, after solid investment returns and effective foreign exchange hedging measures.
In second place was Cathay Financial Holding Co., after it registered NT$122.18 billion in net profit, a 90 percent increase from a year earlier.
Cathay's flagship subsidiary Cathay Life Insurance posted a new high of more than NT$100 billion in net profit in the nine month period.
The combined net profit of the 15 listed financial holding firms totaled NT$499.26 billion for the nine-month period, up around 60 percent from a year earlier.
Fubon Financial and Cathay Financial posted an aggregate NT$252.38 billion in net profit for the nine-month period, accounting for around 51 percent of the combined earnings of the 15 financial firms.
In addition to Fubon Financial and Cathay Financial, eight counterparts saw net income for the nine months exceed total 2020 earnings.
CTBC Financial Holding Co., one of them, recorded NT$46.48 billion in net profit over the nine-month period, compared with NT$42.8 billion for all of 2020. Its EPS for the nine-month period stood at NT$2.33.
Chiu Ya-ling (???), CTBC Financial's financial chief officer, said her company benefited from a 20 percent year-on-year increase in fee income from CTBC Bank's wealth management division, while Taiwan Life Insurance, one of its subsidiaries, enjoyed a rise in investment returns and a boost to sales in investment-oriented insurance policies.
Mega Financial Holding Co. retained the title of most profitable among the four financial firms that the government holds an investment stake in, after posting NT$19.71 billion in net profit for the nine-month period, up 3.99 percent from a year earlier, with EPS at NT$1.45.
The four government-led financial firms -- Mega Financial, First Financial Holding Co., Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co. and Hua Nan Financial Holding Co. -- posted NT$66.87 billion in combined net profit for the nine-month period, up 34.71 percent from the previous year.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel