• By Crystal Hsu / Staff Reporter

SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) posted a net profit of NT$803 million (US$27.14 million) for the last month on Wednesday after its securities firm suffered a loss and beat the the group’s record of being the only profitable player in Taiwan by measure of year-over-year financial results.

The banking-focused conglomerate racked up a net profit of NT$6.88 billion in the first five months of the year, down 6.3% from the same period last year, with a earnings per share of NT$0.61, SinoPac said.

In April, SinoPac Financial was the only financial firm to post positive profit growth from a year earlier as unrealized asset losses plagued its peers, it said.

That status ended last month after its securities subsidiary, SinoPac Securities Co (永豐金證券), suffered net losses of NT$136 million, although main subsidiary Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) maintained its position with a net profit of NT$1.26 billion. .

The group told an investor conference on Tuesday last week that healthy growth in lending and wealth management business had enabled the lender to increase fee income and absorb losses from its operation credit card during the first three months of the year.

Bank SinoPac generated almost 80% of the group’s profit of NT$4.41 billion in the first quarter of the year, or earnings per share of NT$0.39, while SinoPac Securities saw its profit decline by 14.3% in the first quarter as trading volume on the TAIEX plummeted, the financial group said.

SinoPac Financial is also looking at weak contributions from overseas operations as market corrections reduce the value of overseas assets and its leasing unit is hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

SinoPac Financial will continue its workforce reduction plans that will reduce the number of its affiliates from 37 in 2017 to 21 in March this year, he added.