Top bank client numbers increase

ASSETS+INSURANCE: The TAIEX rose 4 percent last month, which was reflected in the rise in financial asset holdings and high-wealth clients, the FSC said

The number of clients of Taiwanese banks with assets of more than NT$100 million (US$3.08 million) surpassed 32,000 at the end of last month, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) data showed.

The local banking sector had 32,326 high-asset clients at the end of last month, up 1,730 from a month earlier, the data showed.

The qualifying threshold is at least NT$100 million in net investable assets plus insurance policy value. Qualifying financial assets need not all be held at the bank providing the service.

The name and logo of the Financial Supervisory Commission are pictured at an office in New Taipei City in an undated photograph.

Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times

The combined assets of the clients under management by Taiwanese banks totaled NT$3.24 trillion at the end of last month, up NT$129.4 billion from a month earlier, the FSC said.

The growth in financial asset holdings and high-wealth clients reflected in part a sustained increase in the value of stocks and other financial assets, with the TAIEX up 4 percent last month, it said.

Another factor might be that banks are offering wider ranges of financial products, making Taiwan a more attractive wealth management market, it said.

Twenty-six Taiwanese banks had received approval to provide services to high-asset clients as of the end of last month, while 25 had begun providing the service, it said.

With banks expanding their financial product offerings, deposits accounted for 39.3 percent of the total assets of those clients under management at the banks at the end of last month, edging down from 39.4 percent a month earlier, the FSC said.

The ratio was the lowest since March 2022, when deposits accounted for 38.6 percent of the total, it added.

Mutual fund investments accounted for 17.6 percent of those clients’ total assets under management at the end of last month, up from 17.3 percent a month earlier, while insurance products represented 13.6 percent, compared with 13.2 percent in August, it said.

The FSC said that 14.8 percent of the assets was in bonds and about 8 percent was in overseas structured products.

On a year-on-year basis, the proportions of assets invested in all financial products except deposits increased, it said.

In other news, the agency had approved 10 securities firms to conduct high-asset client business through sub-brokerage, wealth management and proprietary trading channels as of the end of last month, allowing clients to place orders for overseas equities through local brokerages without opening accounts abroad.

Cumulative client numbers reached 2,190, up 40 percent from a year earlier, while cumulative transaction value rose 78 percent to NT$685.8 billion, it said.