By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterTaishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) and SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) yesterday said that they would remain cautious amid fears caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. However, its two financial leasing companies in China have seen their nonperforming loan ratio slightly increase to 3 percent since January, Taishin Financial president Welch Lin (林維俊) said. The two units’ nonperforming loans account for less than 0.5 percent of the firm’s total, he said. As China last year supplied less than 1 percent of its total profit, it expects limited effect even if the outbreak continues, Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) president Eric Chuang (莊銘福) said. “We are cautious, but not pessimistic... We will continue concentrating on growth in fee income this year instead of investment returns amid a highly volatile financial market,” SinoPac Financial president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) said.
