Taipei [Taiwan], December 29 : The United States remains the top debtor of Taiwan banks for the 41st straight quarter. This means the U.S. owes more money to Taiwanese banks than any other country. According to a report by Focus Taiwan, this trend has continued for more than ten years without any change at the top spot.
Citing data released by the central bank, the report shows that the money Taiwanese banks have tied up in the U.S. grew by USD 4.03 billion. This is an increase of 2.07 per cent from the end of June. By the end of September, the total amount reached USD 198.896 billion. The report noted that Hsieh Jen-chun, who is the deputy head of the central bank's Department of Financial Inspection, said the growth happened because banks put more money into U.S. securities and lending.
On the other hand, Luxembourg is now the second-largest debtor to Taiwan's banks. It took the second spot away from China. Exposure to Luxembourg rose by USD 2.72 billion to reach USD 50.77 billion at the end of September. Hsieh said the increase happened because Taiwanese banks put more funds into trust assets in that European country. This is the third quarter in a row that the money kept in Luxembourg has grown.
China fell to the third spot on the list. Even though the money tied up in China rose by about USD 1.07 billion to reach USD 49.56 billion, it is now less than Luxembourg. Hsieh noted that exposure to China stays between USD 40 billion and USD 50 billion. He said that this is due to "concerns about that country's economic outlook." He also mentioned that there is "caution over Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission restrictions on lending and investments in China."
Total international claims by Taiwanese banks also went up. These claims include things like loans, investments, and deposits. They rose by 3.48 per cent from the previous quarter to reach USD 670.8 billion. This growth comes from more lending to the global nonbank private sector.
Australia is the fourth-largest debtor with USD 42.14 billion. Other major nations on the list are Japan, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Singapore, France, and Vietnam. The top 10 debtor nations together account for USD 496.0 billion. This makes up about 73.95 per cent of all the international money held by Taiwan's banks.
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