Fitch Rtgs: Taiwan Bank Holding Companies' Leverage, Outlook to Stay Stable

TS Financial Holding Co

17/01/2020 08:11

(The following statement was released by the rating agency)


Fitch Ratings-Taipei-January 17: Fitch Ratings expects the common-equity 
double-leverage ratios (DLR) of Taiwanese bank holding companies to remain 
stable, reinforcing our stable sector and rating outlook for Taiwanese banks and 
their holding companies for 2020. Fitch's rated bank holding companies - CTBC 
Financial Holding Co., Ltd. (BBB+/Stable/bbb+), SinoPac Financial Holdings 
Company Limited (BBB+/Stable/bbb+) and Taishin Financial Holding Co., Ltd. 
(BBB/Stable/bbb) - reported strong net profit for 2019, benefitting from the 
solid earnings performance of their operating subsidiaries, resulting in higher 
dividends for the parents. Their average common-equity DLR was steady at 115% at 
end-September 2019. The continuation of these factors should support a steady 
common-equity DLR for the bank holding companies in 2020.

Aggregate net profit for the three Fitch-rated bank holding companies rose 21% 
yoy in 2019 after improved earnings at both bank and non-bank subsidiaries. Bank 
credit costs were low during 2019, and the non-bank subsidiaries, including life 
and securities operations, contributed strongly on the back of continued 
business expansion and robust investment income. We expect a modest decline in 
profitability for 2020 as a higher reserve requirement on insurance products may 
weaken wealth-management fees and bank-impairment charges may rise modestly from 
a low base. However, we expect overall bank performance to remain stable on the 
back of steady economic growth, supported by a return of manufacturing 
activities to Taiwan and accelerating private investment, helping drive similar 
performance at the holding company level as banks remain the major earnings 
contributors.

Earnings contribution from the holding companies' bank subsidiaries, both rated 
and unrated, declined to about 87% of consolidated net profit in 2019 from 93% 
in 2016 as the holding companies sought to diversify their business models in 
recent years through acquisitions and the expansion of non-bank operations. The 
diversification helped strengthen the retail franchise and investment product 
offerings at the subsidiary level, but is balanced against higher leverage at 
the bank holding company to fund the strategy. This was most evident for CTBC 
Financial Holding, whose contribution from Taiwan Life Insurance Co., Ltd. 
(BBB+/Stable) rose to 30% of its net profit in 2019 from 18% in 2016, while its 
common-equity DLR rose to 126% by end-9M19 from 118% at end-2016 as a result. 
CTBC Financial Holding's rating is two notches below that of its banking arm, 
CTBC Bank Co., Ltd. (A/Stable/a), to reflect our view on the likely regulatory 
focus in protecting bank creditors in the event of stress, Taiwan Life's weaker 
standalone credit profile relative to CTBC Bank as well as CTBC Financial 
Holding's high common-equity DLR.  

We believe the contribution from the non-bank subsidiaries is unlikely to change 
significantly, all things being equal, unless triggered by large scale 
acquisitions, which we think is less likely over the next two years. This should 
support stable common-equity DLRs for our rated bank holding companies and their 
ratings, which are notched relative to the ratings of their bank subsidiaries 
based on the level of the holding companies' common-equity DLR, among other 
factors.  

Contact: 

Sophia Chen, CFA, CPA

Director

+886 2 8175 7604

Fitch Australia Pty Ltd, Taiwan Branch

Unit 3705, 37F, No. 100, Songren Rd.,

Xinyi District, Taipei 110, Taiwan

Cherry Huang, CFA

Director

+886 2 8175 7603

Media Relations: Alanis Ko, Hong Kong, Tel: +852 2263 9953, Email: 
alanis.ko@thefitchgroup.com; Wai Lun Wan, Hong Kong, Tel: +852 2263 9935, Email: 
wailun.wan@thefitchgroup.com.

Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com

ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. 
PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK:  
HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING 
DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S 
PUBLIC WEB SITE AT WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA, AND 
METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF 
CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE, 
AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE CODE OF 
CONDUCT SECTION OF THIS SITE. DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS RELEVANT INTERESTS ARE 
AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM/SITE/REGULATORY. FITCH MAY HAVE 
PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD 
PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED 
IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS 
ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.

Copyright © 2020 by Fitch Ratings, Inc., Fitch Ratings Ltd. and its 
subsidiaries. 33 Whitehall Street, NY, NY 10004. Telephone: 1-800-753-4824, 
(212) 908-0500. Fax: (212) 480-4435. Reproduction or retransmission in whole or 
in part is prohibited except by permission. All rights reserved. In issuing and 
maintaining its ratings and in making other reports (including forecast 
information), Fitch relies on factual information it receives from issuers and 
underwriters and from other sources Fitch believes to be credible. Fitch 
conducts a reasonable investigation of the factual information relied upon by it 
in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification 
of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are 
available for a given security or in a given jurisdiction. The manner of Fitch's 
factual investigation and the scope of the third-party verification it obtains 
will vary depending on the nature of the rated security and its issuer, the 
requirements and practices in the jurisdiction in which the rated security is 
offered and sold and/or the issuer is located, the availability and nature of 
relevant public information, access to the management of the issuer and its 
advisers, the availability of pre-existing third-party verifications such as 
audit reports, agreed-upon procedures letters, appraisals, actuarial reports, 
engineering reports, legal opinions and other reports provided by third parties, 
the availability of independent and competent third- party verification sources 
with respect to the particular security or in the particular jurisdiction of the 
issuer, and a variety of other factors. Users of Fitch's ratings and reports 
should understand that neither an enhanced factual investigation nor any 
third-party verification can ensure that all of the information Fitch relies on 
in connection with a rating or a report will be accurate and complete. 
Ultimately, the issuer and its advisers are responsible for the accuracy of the 
information they provide to Fitch and to the market in offering documents and 
other reports. In issuing its ratings and its reports, Fitch must rely on the 
work of experts, including independent auditors with respect to financial 
statements and attorneys with respect to legal and tax matters. Further, ratings 
and forecasts of financial and other information are inherently forward-looking 
and embody assumptions and predictions about future events that by their nature 
cannot be verified as facts. As a result, despite any verification of current 
facts, ratings and forecasts can be affected by future events or conditions that 
were not anticipated at the time a rating or forecast was issued or affirmed. 

The information in this report is provided "as is" without any representation or 
warranty of any kind, and Fitch does not represent or warrant that the report or 
any of its contents will meet any of the requirements of a recipient of the 
report. A Fitch rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a security. 
This opinion and reports made by Fitch are based on established criteria and 
methodologies that Fitch is continuously evaluating and updating. Therefore, 
ratings and reports are the collective work product of Fitch and no individual, 
or group of individuals, is solely responsible for a rating or   a report. The 
rating does not address the risk of loss due to risks other than credit risk, 
unless such risk is specifically mentioned. Fitch is not engaged in the offer or 
sale of any security. All Fitch reports have shared authorship. Individuals 
identified in a Fitch report were involved in, but are not solely responsible 
for, the opinions stated therein. The individuals are named for contact purposes 
only. A report providing a Fitch rating is neither a prospectus nor a substitute 
for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer 
and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. Ratings may be 
changed or withdrawn at any time for any reason in the sole discretion of Fitch. 
Fitch does not provide investment advice of any sort. Ratings are not a 
recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Ratings do not comment on the 
adequacy of market price, the suitability of any security for a particular 
investor, or the tax-exempt nature or taxability of payments made in respect to 
any security. Fitch receives fees from issuers, insurers, guarantors, other 
obligors, and underwriters for rating securities. Such fees generally vary from 
US$1,000 to US$750,000 (or the applicable currency equivalent) per issue. In 
certain cases, Fitch will rate all or a number of issues issued by a particular 
issuer, or insured or guaranteed by a particular insurer or guarantor, for a 
single annual fee. Such fees are expected to vary from US$10,000 to US$1,500,000 
(or the applicable currency equivalent). The assignment, publication, or 
dissemination of a rating by Fitch shall not constitute a consent by Fitch to 
use its name as an expert in connection with any registration statement filed 
under the United States securities laws, the Financial Services and Markets Act 
of 2000 of the United Kingdom, or the securities laws of any particular 
jurisdiction. Due to the relative efficiency of electronic publishing and 
distribution, Fitch research may be available to electronic subscribers up to 
three days earlier than to print subscribers. 

For Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea only: Fitch Australia Pty Ltd 
holds an Australian financial services license (AFS license no. 337123) which 
authorizes it to provide credit ratings to wholesale clients only. Credit 
ratings information published by Fitch is not intended to be used by persons who 
are retail clients within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001

Fitch Ratings, Inc. is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange 
Commission as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (the 
"NRSRO"). While certain of the NRSRO's credit rating subsidiaries are listed on 
Item 3 of Form NRSRO and as such are authorized to issue credit ratings on 
behalf of the NRSRO (see https://www.fitchratings.com/site/regulatory), other 
credit rating subsidiaries are not listed on Form NRSRO (the "non-NRSROs") and 
therefore credit ratings issued by those subsidiaries are not issued on behalf 
of the NRSRO. However, non-NRSRO personnel may participate in determining credit 
ratings issued by or on behalf of the NRSRO