Taiwanese happy with domestic capital despite China woes: Cathay executive

Taiwan's ultra wealthy are keeping their assets in their home market despite escalating tensions with China, betting that the island's tech industry will continue to bring in robust returns, a senior Cathay Financial executive said. 

Robert Fuh, chief executive of Cathay Financial's private banking unit, added that the division was confident enough of its prospects to expand and plans to increase its headcount of 180 by as much as 10 per cent next year. 

The potential for capital flight from Taiwan has often been cited as a risk by analysts and investors as China, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory, mounts a sustained military pressure campaign. That's included four major rounds of war games in the past two years. 

People in Taiwan have learned to keep calm and carry on, Fuh said in an interview with Reuters on Monday. 

"So far we have not seen our clients closing accounts and moving their assets offshore. Yes, there have been some, but it's not developing into a trend," he added. 

He said a major factor in their reasoning was the importance of Taiwanese companies like contract chip manufacturer TSMC in the booming artificial intelligence industry, making investment opportunities on the island too lucrative to pass up. 

"I think now is a time of precarious balance. Clients would rather remain in place than move. Taiwan stocks have been pretty immune to (cross-strait) tensions, mainly because Taiwan has built unique technological industries that no other countries would be able to replicate and build up any time soon," he said. 

"TSMC's expansions into America and Japan leave investors with the impression of growth potential beyond imagination."  Taiwan, home to TSMC and many other suppliers to tech giants Apple and Nvidia, ranks as the world's 14th wealthiest economy per capita, according to a Forbes report based on 2024 GDP. That puts it ahead of China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. 

TSMC's share price has almost tripled in the past two years while Taiwan's benchmark index is up 77 per cent. 

Cathay Financial is Taiwan's largest financial holding firm with around T$13.3 trillion ($415 billion) in total assets and the private banking unit also has offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. 

UBS is currently the dominant player in Taiwan's private banking market. 

"We hope to catch up with them in five years," Fuh said. 

Cathay Financial declined to disclose its current market share.