Taiwanese Banks Shift Sights from Vietnam to Laos and Myanmar

Worrying about a reoccurrence of Vietnam's recent anti-Chinese riots, which caused serious damage to hundreds of Taiwanese enterprises, the island's banks are planning to switch their development focus to other areas of Southeast Asia. Reportedly, underdeveloped Myanmar and Laos are the favored countries.

Some Taiwanese banks intend to expand operations to Laos this year. Cathay United Bank, in fact, has already received approval to establish a branch in Vientiane, and First Bank followed closely with approval of its own application by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).

Hua Nan Bank is assessing the possibility of setting up a representative office in Yangon, Myanmar and Bank of Taiwan is considering the feasibility of a representative office in Mumbai, India. (JL)

Southeast Asian Footholds of Taiwanese Banks as of March 2014
Country	No. of branches	No. of rep. offices	No. of other institutions
Indonesia	--	--	11
India	2	1	--
Cambodia	3	1	22
Thailand	--	4	4
Malaysia	2	--	2
Philippines	2	1	25
Vietnam	10	9	34
Myanmar	--	2	--
Singapore	9	--	--

Source: FSC