Taiwanese FHCs Expand Leasing Firms into China

Taipei, Oct. 31, 2012 (CENS)--Taiwan’s financial holding companies (FHCs) are expanding their leasing firms into China to tap opportunities there.

First Financial Holding Co., a government-linked Taiwanese FHC, set up a leasing firm in Suzhou of Jiangsu Province in March 2011, which scored profits of US$3.6 million in the first eight months of this year. In January of this year First establish another leasing firm in Chengdu of Sichuan Province, which also posted profits of US$3 million in the first eight months, already exceeding its full-year goal set at US$2.3 million.

Seeing the good performance of its leasing firms in China, First is assessing the feasibility of establishing the third one probably in Tianjin Municipality or Dalian of Liaoning Province, both in northern China.

SinoPac Financial Holding Co., a private FHC in Taiwan, opened its first leasing firm in Nanjing a year ago and inaugurated the second one in Dongguan of Guangdong Province in August of this year, also having been approved to set up more leasing firms in Xiamen of Fujian Province and Kunshan of Jiangsu, with the former expected to open in November and the latter in December.

C. Y. Chang, chief strategy officer at SinoPac, disclosed that SinoPac initially invested US$20 million to set up its China leasing headquarters in Nanjing, where many Taiwanese enterprises cluster in more than 30 industries.

Chang said that the financial market in China is huge and Taiwanese leasing firms are allowed to handle renminbi (RMB) business as soon as they are established there, the main reason behind Taiwanese financial institutions to expand leasing operations there.