Taiwanese mostly happy to keep capital at home despite China tensions, says Cathay executive
Taiwan markets seen in a state of 'precarious balance'
Cathay Financial to expand headcount by up to 10% next year
Aims to catch up with UBS in Taiwan private banking in 5 years
Adds picture available
By Faith Hung
TAIPEI, Nov 5 (Reuters) -Taiwan's ultra wealthy are keeping their assets in their home market despite escalating tensions with China, betting that the island's tech industry will continue to bring in robust returns, a senior Cathay Financial 2882.TW executive said.
Robert Fuh, chief executive of Cathay Financial's private banking unit, added that the division was confident enough of its prospects to expand and plans to increase its headcount of 180 by as much as 10% next year.
The potential for capital flight from Taiwan has often been cited as a risk by analysts and investors as China, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory, mounts a sustained military pressure campaign. That's included four major rounds of war games in the past two years.
People in Taiwan have learned to keep calm and carry on, Fuh said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.
"So far we have not seen our clients closing accounts and moving their assets offshore. Yes, there have been some, but it's not developing into a trend," he added.
He said a major factor in their reasoning was the importance of Taiwanese companies like contract chip manufacturer TSMC 2330.TW in the booming artificial intelligence industry, making investment opportunities on the island too lucrative to pass up.
"I think now is a time of precarious balance. Clients would rather remain in place than move. Taiwan stocks have been pretty immune to (cross-strait) tensions, mainly because Taiwan has built unique technological industries that no other countries would be able to replicate and build up any time soon," he said.
"TSMC's expansions into America and Japan leave investors with the impression of growth potential beyond imagination."
Taiwan, home to TSMC and many other suppliers to tech giants Apple AAPL.O and Nvidia NVDA.O, ranks as the world's 14th wealthiest economy per capita, according to a Forbes report based on 2024 GDP. That puts it ahead of China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.
TSMC's share price has almost tripled in the past two years while Taiwan's benchmark index is up 77%.
Cathay Financial is Taiwan's largest financial holding firm with around T$13.3 trillion ($415 billion) in total assets and the private banking unit also has offices in Hong Kong and Singapore.
UBS is currently the dominant player in Taiwan's private banking market.
"We hope to catch up with them in five years," Fuh said. Cathay Financial declined to disclose its current market share.
Reporting by Faith Hung; Editing by Edwina Gibbs
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
