Taiwanese financial behemoth Cathay United Bank supports foreign investment in Vietnam
Taiwanese financial behemoth Cathay United Bank supports foreign investment in Vietnam
Taiwanese investors are leveraging their networks and stepping up interest in Vietnam's stock market as well as in technology and insurance. Benny Miao, executive vice president of Cathay United Bank Taiwan, sheds light on Taiwan's continuing presence in Vietnam and the bank’s strategies to cement its position.
As one of the largest, most prestigious financial groups in Taiwan, Cathay Financial Holdings has been in Vietnam for over 15 years now, starting with our life insurance subsidiary, Cathay Life Vietnam. Over the years, we have expanded our presence here to also include our property and casualty insurance subsidiary, Cathay Vietnam, as well as our bank subsidiary, Cathay United Bank.
In addition, we have a joint venture bank, Indovina Bank. Vietnam is a key strategic market for us and we aim to further develop our financial services platform to be able to deliver holistic financial solutions to our Vietnamese clients. We see continued growth opportunities here, given the country's growing importance in global and regional trade networks. We are very proud to be the leading Taiwanese financial institution in Vietnam and we plan to continue growing our presence locally.
Vietnam continues to fly high on Taiwanese investors’ agenda, and Cathay United Bank is also actively supporting foreign investors capitalising on this market.
Taiwan was the sixth-largest foreign investor in Vietnam after Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China, and Hong Kong in September. As of September 20, newly-registered capital, adjusted capital, and capital contribution or share purchases by foreign investors reached $1.102 billion.
Taiwanese financiers boast 2,831 projects in Vietnam, with registered capital reaching $35.038 billion, illustrating Taiwanese investors’ inexorable belief in Vietnam’s resiliency and vast potential.
As Vietnam plays a key role in global trade and supply chain networks, additional investment and capital will flow into Vietnam from overseas. Cathay United Bank plans to support and facilitate this inbound flow by providing comprehensive trade and capital solutions to our clients. By introducing our global corporate customers to Vietnam, Cathay United Bank is able to assist in building relationships between international and local enterprises to create synergistic business opportunities.
In addition, Cathay United Bank is able to leverage our cross-border financing solutions to provide both offshore and onshore financings including trade finance, cash management, and treasury solutions.
Currently, some international banks are quitting retail banking arms in Vietnam and other regional markets, and the competition between local and foreign lenders has become fiercer.
The rapid growth of Vietnam naturally resulted in a significant development of our local banking peers. While Cathay United Bank Vietnam is mainly focused on serving the corporate client base, we are continuously assessing Vietnam’s retail banking opportunities and the best service model. Based on our experience in our home market of Taiwan, retail banking will inevitably go the digital route and require traditional banks to transform and adapt to a new approach to servicing customers.
The traditional model of building physical branches and offering products through sales representatives is being replaced with a more digital or virtual service model. We have undertaken a complete overhaul of our retail banking business in Taiwan as a result, and we look to bring our experience and knowledge to Vietnam at the appropriate time.
