The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has approved an application filed by state-owned Land Bank of Taiwan to open a branch in central China.
The FSC made the announcement on Saturday. The application is the third the FSC has approved for the Land Bank amid increasing business exchanges between Taiwan and China.
Land Bank already has a branch in Shanghai and has received approval from the FSC to establish another branch in Tianjin, northern China. The FSC said Land Bank is keen to extend its reach into the inland areas of China. The latest application to set up a branch in Wuhan is to broaden its business network in China.
The FSC said authorities in Wuhan offered a lot of incentives to attract Taiwanese firms to invest there, so the bank is eyeing increasing business opportunities there at a time when the number of Taiwanese investors in China is growing.
So far, Taiwanese banks have set up 11 branches in China. In addition to Land Bank, the Taiwanese banks that have a presence in China include the Bank of Taiwan, First Commercial Bank, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank, and Hua Nan Commercial Bank.