Fubon Financial Holding Co., Ltd. (2881) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for joining Fubon Financial's First Half '26 Results Briefing. We'll begin with the overall financial highlights and then go through the performance of the major subsidiaries. In Page 5, the holding company delivered another strong set of results, while the net income reached over $97 billion and also the after-tax FVOCI equity disposal gain is another $91 billion. And from the balance sheet perspective, the total assets is over $13.7 trillion, that is up by over 15% and the net worth exceeds $1.2 trillion, that is up by over 55%. And therefore, that brings the adjusted net worth over $1.6 trillion and adjusted book value per share that reached $109.30. In each of the subsidiaries, in Fubon Life, the profit combined with the FVOCI disposal gain that reached over $143 billion. That set another historical high level. For the premium side remain the second largest and investment return, the total level reached over 9% plus, including the FVOCI disposal gains. In Taipei Fubon Bank, the net income up by over 30% year-over-year. That set another historical high and reached over $25 billion. It was driven by both the NII and also the fee, while the asset quality remains stable. In Fubon Securities, the net income also reached a historical high level that benefit from the trading activity in the Taiwan stock market, while its market position remains solid at top 3 across major business lines. In Fubon Insurance, again, the net income also growth at -- reached $5.5 billion plus and combined with the FVOCI gain that reached over $7.4 billion. With a premium growth of over 8% and market share of over 24%, keeping its #1 market position with the combined ratio further improved and also investment return reached over 10%, including the FVOCI gains. In Page 6, as we assess Fubon's profitability and also the dividend paying capacity, we will consider both the reported earnings and also the realized FVOCI gains. So here, we can see the net income of $97 billion and combined with FVOCI disposal gains of over $91 billion, put it together, that were equivalent of $13.17 per share. That also set a record high for the same period in the history. In Page 7, it shows the profit contribution by subsidiaries. And we can see all major subsidiaries all delivered a year-over-year growth in the first half. And while Taipei Fubon Bank, Securities, Insurance, Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) and China all reached its record high level. And in Fubon Life, if we look at the net income together with the FVOCI disposal gain after tax, it also reached a record high. And overall speaking, it demonstrates the strength of Fubon's diversified financial platform nature. In Page 8, turning to the balance sheet. As of end of first half, the total asset is over $13.7 trillion, that is up by 15.7% and the net worth is over $1.2 trillion, that is up by over 55%. And on the adjusted net worth basis, including the after-tax CSM that reached over $1.6 trillion and also reached a per share basis of $109.30. And also worth noting that the unaudited net worth in July remained broadly stable compared to the level of June under the market volatility. That also demonstrates the resilience of Fubon's capital position under the changing capital market conditions. In Page 9, in terms of the return metrics, the annualized ROAA and ROAE is 1.47% and 18%, respectively. While adding into the FVOCI disposal gains from equity, the adjusted basis of ROAA will be 2.85%, and adjusted ROAE will be 34.8%. In Page 10, we highlight to you the ESG progress in the first half for your reference. Moving to the section of Fubon Life. In Page 12, we summarize the key metrics. On the business side, the first year premium reached $85 billion, that is up by over 35% year-over-year. And the new business CSM is $34.9 billion, that is up by over 11%. While the CSM balance reached over $428 billion, that is up by 6.4% year-to-date. And on the financial performance, the net income will be $55.6 billion, while we add the FVOCI equity disposal gains, that's $87.7 billion. So put it together, we will have $143.3 billion. The net worth continued to grow, while the adjusted net worth, including the after-tax CSM reached $1.2 trillion. And also the equity-to-asset ratio of 15.3% or adjusted basis of over 21% that indicate a strong capital position in Fubon Life. In Page 13, if we further look into the profit component, the insurance service result is $19.8 billion, mainly supported by the CSM amortization, while the financial results contribute $54 billion coming from the recurring investment income, the valuation mark-to-market and also the realized investment gains. And including the after-tax FVOCI equity disposal gains, the combined amount will be $143.3 billion. That also bring the ROA and ROE on adjusted basis of 4.56% for adjusted ROA and 40.53% for adjusted ROE. In Page 14, the total premium up by 18% plus and mainly driven by the first year premium up by over 35%. As we can see, the participating policy and also investment-linked products are a key growth driver. And Fubon Life maintained its leading position as the second largest in terms of FYP, renewal premium and also the total premium. In Page 15, it shows more detail on the FYP by product and also by channel. As we see the capital markets strong and therefore, support the par policy and also investment-linked. While the strong sales of the U.S. dollar product from the par policy that bring up the share of the non-NTD share. So we can see it go up from 60.5% (sic) [ 61.5% ] up to 76.1% if we're excluding the investment-linked product for first half '26 versus '25. And that will be a positive factor from the asset liability perspective. And by channel, the first year premium from the tied agent grew by over 40% and from Taipei Fubon Bank also delivered strong growth of over 80%. And together with other affiliate channels under Fubon Financial, including securities and P&C, et cetera, the internal channels contribute a total of over 85% of the FYP. And this also highlights the strength of Fubon's internal platform and cross-selling capability. In the FYPE perspective, it came down by 5.3% year-over-year, mainly reflect higher mix from the single premium and shorter-term payment product. And even so, the FYPE to FYP ratio of 33.9%, still above the industry average. While the product mix shift is in response to the market condition and also the customer preference. And Fubon will continue to maintain a relatively decent business quality. In Page 17, from the CSM perspective, the CSM balance reached $428.9 billion as of end of June '26, and that's increase of about 6.4% year-to-date. And the growth was mainly driven by the new business contribution. And CSM release that supports the underwriting profit with a release rate of about 3.4% in the first half. The new business CSM growth at 11.4% year-over-year on the right-hand side bar chart, while the new business CSM margin declined that reflects the increase of the sales in the shorter-term payment product. Overall speaking, the CSM balance remain an important indicator for the future insurance service results and the long-term business value. In Page 18, we summarize Fubon Life's investment portfolio. So total invested assets reached over $5.4 trillion at the end of June. And the fixed income overseas remain the largest asset class that is about half of the total investment, followed by the domestic fixed income at 16% and domestic equity at 12.1%. The total investment return reached 9.18%, supported by the strong domestic equity market performance. And also at the same time is the high cash level of around 5% plus that continue to be a source for Fubon Life to dynamically adjust its asset allocation in response to the market condition. In Page 19, we look specifically at overseas fixed income. We continue to focus on investment-grade corporate credit and financial bonds. In terms of region, primarily in North America, followed by the Europe and also the Asia and others. In Page 20, this summarized the component of the investment income after the cancellation of the overlay approach in '26. In first half, the recurring investment income was $79.6 billion. That was the bulk of the investment income that was $138.3 billion with the return at 5.35%. And further, if we include the FVOCI disposal gains before tax, that was $99.6 billion and the total amount will reach $237.9 billion. And on a return basis, that will translate into 9.18%. And compared to the same period last year, the increase mainly reflects higher gains in the domestic and also overseas equity market and while the FX-related cost came down. In Page 21, here, we focus on the hedging and also the FX reserve. As the narrowing of the NT and U.S. interest rate differential that come in more slowly. So the swap cost improved also become more mildly. For the FX gain and losses and also the net provision for FX reserve is stable. In Fubon Life's FX reserve continue to accumulate, which it reached over $153 billion in the first half. And this also remained at the highest level in the industry. And we continue to manage the hedge ratio and also the foreign currency exposure prudently. In Page 22, in terms of the spread, the cost of liability improved year-over-year, which reflects the adoption of the IFRS 17 under the current rate basis and the spread between investment returns and cost of liability, also the recurring ones that remain positive. And the total investment return, including FVOCI disposal gains outperformed the same period last year. That brings to a widened spread and same for the recurring yield after hedge and FX provision also widening that reflect a lower hedging ratio and also the reduced hedging cost. In Page 23, the net worth during the first half, that was further improved, driven by the net income contribution, higher FVOCI assets on back of the equity market, and also a lower insurance contract liability due to the higher risk-free rate in Taiwan and U.S. And adjusted basis of the net worth also shows the adjusted equity-to-asset ratio of 21.2% that shows Fubon Life a solid capital buffer. In Page 25, we move on to Taipei Fubon Bank. Fubon Bank delivered a strong revenue growth in the first half. The total revenue increased by 25.8%, mainly supported by the net interest income growth of 27% and also the net fee income of over 39%. The NII growth reflects both the volume and also the margin, while the fee income now accounts for over 30% of the revenue mix compared to about 22% in year '23. And also the combination of the balance sheet expansion with the stronger fee income that continue to improve the bank's earning quality and also the revenue mix. In Page 26, the credit balance increased 14.9% year-over-year. And excluding the government lending, we can see both the corporate and retail credit are double-digit growth. And that reflects the franchise expansion and also the healthy customer demand across our major business lines. In Page 27, for corporate credit, the NT dollar book increased over 8% year-over-year, which is supported by the SME growing at over 11%. The foreign currency book grew even faster at 27% year-over-year and accounts for 38% of the total corporate credit. And that is up by more than 3.6 percentage points for the same period last year. And that also reflects corporate clients' cross-border funding demand and also the bank's continuous expansion in foreign currency book. In Page 28, on the retail side, the mortgage increased by 11.6% year-over-year and mainly driven by the home equity loans, while other personal lending mainly reflects the unsecured consumer loans growth at over 40% year-over-year growth. And the bank continued to emphasize the customer quality, credit discipline and also the risk-based pricing. In Page 29, the deposit perspective, overall speaking, it remained healthy and increased by over 15% year-over-year, mainly driven by a higher growth in the NT dollar book. While the foreign currency loan-to-deposit ratio is up and reached 35.8%, and the bank continued to have a stable funding base and support the further loan growth. In Page 30, in terms of the margin, net interest margin increased by 12 bps year-on-year and reached 1.3%, mainly benefit from the widening of loan deposit spread. And this spread increased by 26 basis points year-on-year and reached 1.48% that reflects the deposit structure improvement and also loan structure optimization. And going forward, the bank continue to manage the structure mix and also asset allocation to sustain the margin improvement. In Page 31, the asset quality, it remains a benign level, while the NPL and coverage ratio stay above industry average. While the asset quality across major business lines also shows a stable trend or improvement. The provision mainly reflects the general provision. So the annualized credit cost is about 11 basis points. In Page 32, for credit card business, the card spending increased by 13.3% year-over-year, mainly driven by the growth of overseas spending and also the Costco affinity card spending. The credit card NPL also remained benign and outperformed the industry average. In Page 33, the fee income shows a strong momentum. The total fee up by 39.5% year-over-year. The growth is across all business lines. While the main contributor, the wealth management fee increased even higher at 44.2% year-over-year. They also reflect growth across the board. And that also supports the bank's strategic focus to deepen the customers' engagement to expand the wealth management capabilities. In Page 34, the overseas branch operation, we continue to expand regionally. So we can see the deposits and loans at the overseas branches in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore together, that increased by 24.8% in deposits and 32% for loans. And the bank continued to deepen the coverage of Taiwanese corporate and also the regional market. And additionally, the new branches in Tokyo, it starts operation in May and followed by Sydney branch in July. While the India branch, we aim to commence the operation by end of this year. And this development will further strengthen the bank's overseas services capability and also the cross-border banking franchise. Next, let's move on to Page 36 regarding Fubon Securities. Fubon Securities delivered a very strong first half results, while its net income reached over $11 billion. That is up by over 170% year-on-year. That is also higher than the full year '25 earnings and reached a record high. The result is supported by the strong trading activity and also the record high index level in Taiwan market, while the company also maintained a top 3 market share in all major business, including brokerage, margin loans and securities lending. And going forward, Fubon Securities continue to focus on lift its market share in the core business lines and promote wealth management transformation while optimize the digital service platform. In Page 38, we summarize Fubon Insurance, the P&C business key metrics. In the first half, the written premium market share of 24.9% and also the net combined ratio of 86.9%. And while the financial performance, the insurance service result of $4.8 billion and also the financial result of about $1.9 billion. And the net income, including the FVOCI disposal gains that would reach a total of $7.4 billion. The net worth will be over $38 billion and also the equity-to-asset ratio of 29.8%. That indicates a solid capital position. In Page 39, Fubon Insurance continued to maintain its decent top 1 market position, while the net combined ratio continued to improve. And as we can see here, it further down to 86.9% compared to 89.4% a year ago. They reflect the continuous optimization of the business mix and also the risk control. In Page 41, we further move on to the overseas banking operation. So here is Fubon Bank (Hong Kong). Its loan and deposits are both growing at double-digit with the loan increased by 29% year-on-year, mainly driven by the corporate and financial institution lending. Deposits increased by 19% plus year-on-year and mainly supported by the retail deposits. The net interest margin was 1.7%, slightly down year-on-year by 2 bps, while the net income increased by over 24%, mainly driven by the scale expansion. And its asset quality, we can see the NPL further improved. And overall speaking, it continued to maintain a decent asset quality. In Fubon Bank (China), the loan and the deposit also growing at double-digit with the loan increase by 15.6% year-on-year and mainly driven by the corporate and also the retail. The deposits increased by 17.4%, driven by -- mainly the corporate side. And net interest margin increase of 15 basis points that reflects the growth of the online retail lending and also the reduction in the U.S. dollar deposit. While the NIM, including swap came down by 9 bps on the year, mainly due to the narrowing of the interest rate differential between RMB and also the U.S. The overall net income increased by over 26% year-over-year, driven by the higher net interest income and also a lower provision, while its asset quality remains stable. So this concludes the presentation for the first half '26 results. And if you have any questions, please visit the Investor Relations section of the Fubon's website. And there, you can submit the question through the analyst meeting page by text or please feel free to contact Fubon's IR team at ir@fubon.com and/or call us at your convenience. Thank you, and have a good day.