E.Sun
There are bigger banks in Taiwan, but none better right now than E.Sun.
From its first day as a new lender in 1992, the Taipei-based outfit was designed to be different. It was owned not by the state or by a single, powerful domestic family, but by a bevy of foreign institutions: combined, the likes of Morgan Stanley, China’s ICBC and electronics maker Foxconn own 45%.
It notched a triple milestone in 2017, passing NT$2 trillion ($67 billion) in assets – up 20-fold over the last 14 years – a NT$200 billion market cap and NT$100 billion in capital. It was the largest domestic underwriter of formosa bonds in 2017, and posted the highest returns on equity and assets of any of its peers.
Wherever you look, you see records broken or new standards set.
A digital pioneer and a long-time leader in corporate social responsibility, it was also the biggest recipient of foreign currency deposits last year and a leading provider, among private banks, of loans to small and medium-sized enterprises. It is one of the top three issuers of credit cards, with 12% of the market, and was ranked in the top three in 2017 in both fee income and credit card fee income.
E.Sun never seems to flag in its desire to be “the biggest bank in Taiwan and the best bank in Taiwan, the favourite bank of not just our employees but the whole of society”, in the words of Joseph Huang, president and chief executive of the bank since July 2008.
As its customer base and loan book grow, it continues to expand its network, at home and abroad. It has 138 domestic branches, and offices in 25 locations in nine countries, including China, Australia and Vietnam. In 2017, it became the first Taiwan lender to open a representative office in Myanmar.
It’s impressive, but for E.Sun, this is just the start.