Taiwan’s banks have been supported through a year of very good gross domestic product growth, as the country’s strong exports helped it achieve a 6.3% increase during 2021. A rise in consumer spending, supported by the island nation’s low Covid-19 case numbers, also contributed.
CTBC Bank remains the biggest lender in the country, although it falls two places in the Top 1000 ranking to 158th. This is despite the bank seeing a relatively strong 6.0% increase in Tier 1 capital to $11.59bn. Bank of Taiwan (BOT), the second-largest lender, manages to climb four places to 168th place in the global ranking. The bank saw its Tier 1 capital increase by 5.1%, while its pre-tax profits increased by 41.6%, the largest percentage growth recorded for a Taiwanese bank.
Of the 33 banks within the country table, which includes foreign-owned subsidiaries, there is no change in position for the top 22, despite all increasing their Tier 1 capital. Hua Nan Commercial Bank enjoyed the biggest increase in Tier 1 capital, with a 13.5% rise to $8.06bn. This was enough to help the bank rise 18 places up the Top 1000 ranking to 201st place, but it wasn’t enough to move it up the country ranking.
The picture of how the banks have fared when run through the best-performing banks methodology presents a different picture. For the second year in a row, Cathay United Bank (CUB) tops the overall performance table with a score of 4.79, narrowly beating BOT. CUB, which is the fourth-largest Taiwanese lender, outperforms its peers in profitability and return on risk. BOT jumped from eighth in 2021 to second this year, topping the table in the leverage category.
There is very little between the overall scores of the banks, as 10th place Land Bank of Taiwan (LBT) still scores 4.62. There is a broad spread of results across the banks, with LBT coming first for operational efficiency. CTBC Bank comes in eighth place, which is a slight improvement on 2021’s results when it placed last, with the lender placing second in the leverage and return on risk categories.
It was a less successful year for Jih Sun International Bank, however, which recorded the highest drop in pre-tax profits, of 35.4%. The bank fell one place in the country table, to 31st, and eight places in the Top 1000, to 861st.
