Taiwan’s Central Bank said on Jan. 12 that China remains the largest debtor to Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese banks’ exposure to China’s market continued to hit a high as of the end of last September, Central Bank said, amid warming business ties across the Taiwan Strait.
Quoting its latest statistics, the Central Bank said that outstanding international claims by Taiwanese banks in China on a direct risk basis at the end of the third quarter of 2014 totaled US$53.59 billion, up from US$52.02 billion that was recorded at the end of the second quarter last year.
On an ultimate risk basis, which calculated a nation’s consolidated debts after risk transfers, Taiwanese banks’ exposure to China hit US$94.09 billion, which was up from the second quarter’s US$92.65 billion, the Central Bank said. On a direct risk basis, Luxembourg ranked as the second-largest debtor to Taiwan, as Taiwanese banks’ exposure totaled US$42.96 billion as of the end of last September, which was down from US$44.47 billion. Hong Kong, meanwhile, was checked in the third, as Taiwanese banks’ international claims on the territory reached US$34.34 billion as of the end of the third quarter on a direct risk basis. Central Bank’s statistics showed that it was followed by the U.S. with US$30.54 billion, the British West Indies with US$14.64 billion and the Cayman Islands with US$12.5 billion.
The statistics also showed that the U.K. was the seventh largest debtor to Taiwan, as Taiwanese banks’ international claims on European nations at the end of last September totaled US$11.52 billion on a direct risk basis, before Singapore with US$7.57 billion and Australia with US$5.85 billion.
The Netherlands, meanwhile, replaced Ireland and became the 10th largest debtor to Taiwan, as Taiwanese banks’ exposure to Holland hit US$4.41 billion as of the end of the third quarter last year, the Central Bank said. The Central Bank also said that Taiwanese banks’ international claims on the top 10 debtors on a direct risk basis totaled US$217.9 billion at the end of the third quarter last year, up 0.96% from the second quarter.
International claims on the top 10 debtors accounted for 77.4% of these banks’ total exposure, the Central Bank said. On a direct risk basis, Taiwanese banks’ total international claims exposure rose 0.96% to US$9.4 billion, due to an increase in interbank loans, while on an ultimate risk basis, Taiwanese banks’ exposure totaled US$341.7 billion as of the end of last September, which was up 2.73% from the end of June.
