Mega Int’l Bank’s Overseas Profits May Surge This Year

Taipei, Feb. 25, 2011 (CENS)--Seeing rising interest rates in overseas financial markets, Mega International Commercial Bank, a government-linked bank in Taiwan, will sizably increase overseas investments and lending this year. Last year the bank derived some 37% of profits from overseas operations and the percentage will very likely surge to 50% this year.

Mega has 31 overseas footholds whose combined assets are expected to grow annually 10% to over NT$700 billion (US$22.58 billion) this year.

Y. C. Tsai, the chairman, says that interest rates in overseas financial markets are much higher than those in Taiwan. For instance, the average deposit-to-lending interest rate gap in Central America is 3.1 percentage points, 2.8 percentage points in the USA, and 2.6 percentage points in Asia, contrasted against 1.2 percentage points in Taiwan. So Mega will very likely see profit growth in its offshore banking units (OBUs) and overseas branches this year.

At the end of 2010 the bank witnessed its net worth post at NT$158.1 billion (US$5.1 billion) and total assets at NT$2.203 trillion (US$71.065 billion). Of the assets, 30% or NT$660 billion (US$21.29 billion) came from its OBUs and overseas branches, which are expected to see the value shoot up by 10% to NT$700 billion (US$22.58 billion) by the end of 2011.