H1 Profits of Taiwan's Domestic Banks up 27%

Taiwan's 39 domestic banks posted pretax profits of NT$179.4 billion (US$5.98 billion) in the first half (H1) of the year, surging 27% year on year, with such figure likely to reach the full-year goal of  NT$300 billion (US$10 billion) or even exceed NT$350 billion (US$11.67 billion), according to the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).

Last year the pretax profits of the domestic banks rose to NT$257.6 billion (US$8.59 billion) for the fourth consecutive annual record high, with H1 profits in 2014 having  already reached 70% of last year's total.

As of the end of June the outstanding non-performing loans (NPLs) of the domestic banks shrank NT$4.2 billion (US$140 million) from a month earlier to NT$69 billion (US$2.3 billion), with NPL ratio down 0.02 of a percentage point to 0.28%, and outstanding loans totaling NT$24.3 trillion (US$810 billion) for a monthly drop of NT$45.4 billion (US$1.513 billion), the first fall since May 2013. (JL)