02.07.2001
First Commercial Bank still searching for M & A target

• The managing director of First Commercial Bank (2802 'Yi Yin'), Mr Chen, stated that the Bank of Kaohsiung (2836 'Gao Xiong Yin') is not interested in merger talks at this stage.

• Mr Chen hopes that First Commercial can merge with a publicly owned bank to simplify and speed up the M & A process.

• We visited First Commercial yesterday and the bank confirmed that it is targeting new mid-cap banks of similar size with excellent asset quality and financial transparency.

• The bank is concerned with its non-performing loans ('NPL'), and will address this issue in 2001, writing off a substantial amount of NPL.

WilliamFong@Primasia.com +886-[0]2-2547-8864