Top Taiwan Finance Firms Plan to Add 16,000 People This Year

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s three biggest financial firms plan to boost headcount by more than 10 percent this year as the local stock market rebounds.

Cathay Financial Holding Co. and CTBC Financial Holding Co. plan to hire 5,000 people each, while Fubon Financial Holding Co. is looking to add more than 6,800 roles, the companies said this week. Taiwan’s benchmark equity index has gained 5.3 percent this year, almost erasing the past year’s slump.

If the rebound holds, Bloomberg Intelligence predicts the profit picture stands to brighten for Cathay and Fubon, Taiwan’s leading life-insurance-focused financial-holding companies. The island’s financial firms are looking to expand overseas or diversify business from the overcrowded local banking industry.

“Setting a high target for new hires is a normal way of marketing in the industry to get talent, and they do this every year,” Allan Lin, assistant vice president at Concord Securities, said by phone. “I am sure the number of actual new hires will not be as many as they plan.”

Cathay Financial, the industry’s biggest listed firm, will hire for roles spanning finance, management and technology, the company said in an emailed reply Friday. No. 2 Fubon said in a statement on Wednesday that it’s investing in fintech. CTBC is looking for overseas expansion and growth in its insurance and core operations, it said in an email Thursday.

Read more: Taiwan’s Overbanked Market Is Trying to Consolidate. Again

Cathay Financial’s net income was NT$4.7 billion ($152 million) in January, or 8.2 percent of the full-year 2019 consensus forecast. Fubon reported NT$3.7 billion or 6.9 percent, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Steven Lam wrote in a Feb. 28 report.

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