元大金控
In 1998 Yuanta made its entry into the Southeast Asian market with its acquisition of 92.5% equity of Thailand’s Cathay Capital Securities Company, which it renamed as Yuanta Securities (Thailand). In 2001, Yuanta Securities (Thailand) executed an equity swap with Kim Eng Securities; through its cooperation with Kim Eng, Yuanta further increased its presence in the region, and successfully established Kim Eng as a dominant brokerage in the region. In 2011 Yuanta disposed of its stake in Kim Eng, with capital gains of NTD 7.187 billion, making this an investment with excellent returns for the Company.
Responding to the growth of cross-strait economic ties, from 2003 to 2009 Yuanta successively established representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, and in 2013 set up Yuanta Investment Consulting (Beijing), to provide comprehensive services in business management consulting, investment management consulting, as well as business information consulting. In 2014, considering the importance of Shanghai in the financial sector and eyeing the promising market in eastern China, Yuanta Investment Consulting (Beijing) set up a Shanghai branch office to grasp the market opportunities.
Additionally, to strengthen its presence in Asia’s emerging securities markets, in 2007 Yuanta invested in a 44.68% equity stake in Vietnam’s First Securities Joint Stock Company, via its subsidiary Yuanta Securities Asia Financial Services. To accelerate and deepen its regional reach, Yuanta Securities decided to re-structure its overseas platform in 2009 and has since designated Yuanta Securities (Hong Kong) as its base of operations for the Greater China region and beyond, with a footprint stretching north and east up to Korea, and south down to Vietnam, Indonesia, and the other ASEAN member nations. Looking forward, Yuanta will build on this structure to create a truly comprehensive international presence, thereby diversifying and decentralizing its core sources of profit.
In 2014, Yuanta Securities utilized its subsidiary Yuanta Securities Asia Financial Services to acquire a controlling stake in Tongyang Securities, the 6th ranked brokerage on the Korean Exchange, and renamed it Yuanta Securities (Korea) on October 1. As of the end of 2017, Yuanta Securities (Korea) had 68 business locations in Korea, with large-scale operations in securities brokerage, underwriting, proprietary trading, and wealth management, among others. In terms of overseas operations, Yuanta Securities (Korea) maintains a presence extending from Northeast Asia down to the ASEAN Nations, where it operates a securities firm in Cambodia.
In early 2015, via its subsidiary Yuanta Securities (Hong Kong), Yuanta acquired a 99% equity stake in PT AmCapital Indonesia, and in the United Kingdom established Yuanta Securities (UK). In 2016, it acquired a 99.9% stake in the Thailand securities firm KKTrade, further expanding Yuanta’s frontiers as it seeks to create a leading role for itself in the ongoing development of the Southeast Asian market.
In 2017, Yuanta Securities achieved rapid growth in Thailand, expanding from only 11 branches in June 2016 to 36 branches as of the end of December 2017, along with a market share of 4.1%, giving it a top ten ranking among Thai brokerages. In December, 2017, Yuanta acquired The First Securities Joint Stock Company of Vietnam, raising its equity stake in the company from 44.7% to 99.95%.
In 2018, First Securities in Vietnam was officially renamed as Yuanta Securities Vietnam in February with the acquisition of remaining equity of the company completed in November of the same year, raising Yuanta’s equity stake in the company to 100%.
Yuanta Securities’ march toward internationalization has been consistent and strong, and is guided by the strategic concept of “strengthening our foothold in Taiwan, while keeping an eye out for global expansion opportunities”, whether through strategic alliances, acquisition or other methods of consolidation, on the road to becoming a leading large-scale brokerage in the Asian Pacific Region.
In 2015, Yuanta Bank acquired Yuanta Securities (Korea)’s Philippines subsidiary, Tongyang Savings Bank, and renamed it Yuanta Savings Bank (Philippines), making it Yuanta Bank’s first overseas subsidiary.
Yuanta Bank has also made Korea a major focus of its expansion plans, both because it is the only official OECD member country in Asia besides Japan, and because Korean regulators have already allowed the establishment of banks within securities locations (“store-within-a-store” model). Indeed, this was one of the Company’s considerations even prior to Yuanta Securities’ acquisition of a subsidiary there. To this end, Yuanta Bank acquired Hanshin Bank of Korea in 2016, with which it hopes to leverage the integration of Group resources and the “Securities + Bank” model to achieve major synergies.