King’s Town first-quarter net profit plummets 50%By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterKing’s Town Bank (京城銀行) on Monday reported that net profit for last quarter halved from a year earlier to NT$894 million (US$29.65 million), curtailed by slowing economic activity and stock investment losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tainan-based lender saw its lending in the first three months of the year increase 1 percent, a relatively slow pace, as customers turned conservative amid the pandemic. Stock investment losses eroded handling fees and interest income, as the TAIEX dropped 28 percent from January to last month, causing net profit for last month to decline 98.9 percent annually to NT$6 million, King’s Town said. Earnings per share last month were NT$0.01 and totaled NT$0.91 for the January-to-March period, the bank said. The bank aims to keep its net interest margin — a gauge for bank profitability — at 1.74 percent this year, flat from the end of last year, despite the central bank’s rate cut of 25 basis points, Hong said.

Source: Taipei Times April 07, 2020 15:56 UTC