(12 June 2007 – Taiwan) ABN Amro is looking to grow its business banking operation in Taiwan, acquiring Taitung Business Bank.”We have been working very hard to build a strong business looking after clients in the affluent middle market and SME segments,” ABN Amro’s chief executive in Asia, Jeroen Drost, said.
Last Friday the bank won an auction to buy the branch network of lender Taitung Business Bank, the third acquisition of a local bank by a foreign bank in the past 12 months.
The Taiwanese government auctioned Taitung, which has US$2.5 billion more debt than assets.
The takeover has boosted ABN Amro’s branches in Taiwan from five to 36.
The Dutch banking giant also said its Taiwan banking operation made a profit in May after four months of losses this year.
International interest in Taiwanese banks has returned over the past year due to the market recovering from the country’s credit card losses and the impact this has had on banking stocks which are now some of the cheapest in Asia.