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Taiwanese Banks Encouraged to Tap Market in India

2014/07/21 | By Judy Li

M.C. Tseng, chairman of Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), encourages Taiwan's domestic banks to tap the Indian market in addition to those in Southeast Asia.

Tseng says that so far Taiwanese banks have focused on overseas operations in China and Southeast Asia including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Singapore, but should also tap the Indian market as India has the world's second-largest population, and maintains relatively loose control over foreign investments.

So far only few Taiwanese banks have expressed interest to explore the Indian market and one of them is the Bank of Taiwan, which has established a representative office there. Insiders point to the few Taiwanese enterprises in India as the main reason for disinterest to set up footholds there, for these banks typically target overseas Taiwanese enterprises as clients.

Tseng, quoting the report of Asian Development Bank, indicates that Asia will become the world's center of economic development in the future as the area's GDP is expected to take a lion's share of 51% of global GDP by 2050, surging from the current 7%. So he also suggests Taiwanese banks should tap the emerging markets in Laos and Myanmar, which are virgin territory for the financial sector. (JL)

Footholds Set up by Taiwanese Banks in Asia-Pacific as of December 2013
Country

No. of footholds

Vietnam

53

Philippines

28

Hong Kong

26

Cambodia

26

China

21

Indonesia

11

Singapore

9

Thailand

8

Australia

7

Japan

6

Malaysia

4

Macao

3

India

3

Myanmar

2

Source: FSC