3 Major Offshore Financial Centers Earn $674 Million USD in First 2 Months

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) promotes three major international financial businesses, including Offshore Banking Units (OBU), Offshore Insurance Units (OIU), and Offshore Securities Units (OSU), commonly known as "Financial 3O."

The FSC announced the pre-tax profits of the three major offshore financial centers for February this year. Calculated at the Bank of Taiwan's USD to NTD closing exchange rate of 31.29 at the end of February, the combined profit for the single month of February was $325 million USD, and the cumulative profit for the first two months was $674 million USD.

In February, the OBU posted a single-month profit of NT$9.69 billion, equivalent to $309 million USD. FSC Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Chang Chia-kuei stated that the OBU saw a decrease of NT$1.12 billion compared to January due to fewer days in February, slightly reducing net interest income. However, the cumulative OBU profit for the first two months was NT$20.5 billion, an 18% year-over-year growth, primarily driven by US interest rate cuts and reduced interest expenses, which boosted net interest income and overall profitability.

FSC Securities and Futures Bureau Chief Secretary Wang Hsiu-ling pointed out that the OSU posted a pre-tax profit of $16.002 million USD in February, with a cumulative profit of $16.735 million USD in the first two months, representing a 73% year-over-year increase. This was fueled by strong performance in securities investments this year, pushing profits up.

FSC Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Chen Ching-yuan stated that the cumulative OIU pre-tax profit for the first two months was $2.413 million USD, a decrease of $2.102 million USD compared to the same period last year. This is because the insurance industry is adopting the International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS 17) this year. The accounting system transition led to losses from some onerous contracts for life insurers. Coupled with paper losses from the sale of financial assets measured at fair value through other comprehensive income (FVOCI) and increased operating expenses, profits declined compared to last year.

Insurance Bureau statistics showed 29 OIU policies in February, comprising 3 from the life insurance sector and 26 from the reinsurance sector. Total premium income for February amounted to $3.095 million USD.