Bank Sinopac
Bank Sinopac, which in September 2001 merged with Taiwanese brokerage house National Securities, wins the award this year as a result of its successful completion of the merger last year and the strong performance that resulted from it.
The merged bank, now one of Taiwan’s biggest with $9bn in assets, posted a 45% increase in net profit last year and improved its ROE to 9.3% from 6.82% the previous year. At the same time, its efficiency remained high, as measured by a cost-to-income ratio of 51.1%.
Bank Sinopac successfully completed the daunting task of integrating National Securities in May 2002, just eight months after the announcement of the merger. Beyond the positive effect on its results, the merger has greatly boosted its domestic market position. Bank Sinopac now has a customer base of 1.1 million and the number of retail branches across Taiwan has climbed to 88. The merger also gives the bank a 14% share of Taiwan’s electronic brokerage market and an additional 2200 small and medium-size business clients.
As a result of the economies of scale created by the merger, the bank aims to double its earnings and raise its assets to as much as $25bn in the near future, making it Taiwan’s most powerful financial institution.
“The leading position of Bank SinoPac in the e-banking field and the ability to integrate cross-border financial services bring us this prestigious recognition from The Banker. We feel honoured and will continue to strive in excellence, aiming to be one of the best regional banks in Asia Pacific,” said Paul C. Lo, chairman of Bank SinoPac.
