Fubon : Line Internet-only Bank May Have Good Results in 3 Years

Fubon Financial Holding(2881-TW) is the second biggest financial holding group in Taiwan. Its subsidiaries including Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, Fubon Bank (China), Xiamen Bank and the internet-only Line Bank.

Fubon Financial Holding's recent focus is the internet-only bank industry. However, many players in this industry are still taking a loss. Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank is Line Bank’s biggest shareholder. The executive team is optimistic about Line Bank’s future profitability. General Manager Cheng Yaohui (程耀輝) expects Line Bank will be able to generate good results in 3 years.

There are two kinds of model when running a bank, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank’s chairman Eric Chen(陳聖德) said on Tuesday. The first model is the “Citi Bank Model”, it uses a same brand name worldwide. The second model is the “Warren Buffett Model”, which invests in multiple brand. Chen wish his company can follow Warren Buffett’s way to build a financial service ecosystem.

Line Bank is considering between B2B and B2B2C operating model. In addtion, catching younger generation’s attention will be the biggest goal of Fubon Financial Holding。

According to Cheng Yaohui, LINE currently has 21 million users in Taiwan. Line App is highly integrated with users' daily activities. As the result, developing internet-only Line Bank has a great potential. It provides a platform for connecting financial services and technological innovation.

However, as mentioned before. South Korea's internet-only banking is still losing money. Taiwanese Media is wondering when will the Taiwan's internet-only banking starts to be profitable.

Cheng Yaohui said that income statement does not necessarily represent whether not the company is valuable. Companies like Amazon and Google did not generate profit when they first established.

Cheng Yaohui has a good faith in Line internet only bank and expects it to present good results within 3 years.