Taiwan's banks are the only financial sector with profit growth

Among the financial sector in Taiwan, only the banking segment has reported growth in pretax profit for the first eight months of this year. According to the Financial Supervisory Commission, banks in Taiwan reported a combined pretax profit of about USD9.2bn from January 1 to August 31, up 7.1% annually. The commission's data showed the central bank's rate hikes drove up interest income. For Taiwanese banks, pretax profit grew 9.3% from a year earlier in the eight months reported, the highest for the period on record. However, foreign banks' local units saw pretax profit drop 11% as funding costs increased due to widening interest spreads between the US and Taiwan, the commission said.