彰化銀行-CHB History

The origin of Chang Hwa Bank (the Bank) dates back to the colonial period under Japan’s governance when Wu Ju-Hsiang founded the Kabushiki Kaisha Shoka Ginko in Chang Hwa on June 5, 1905, with an initial capital of 220,000 Japanese yen raised from local businessmen and landlords. In 2005, CHB celebrated its centennial anniversary. Kabushiki Kaisha Shoka Ginko relocated its head office from Chang Hwa to Taichung in 1910 to better coordinate its expansion efforts of setting up branches and offices in all major cities in Taiwan.

After Taiwan was restored to the ROC government on October 25, 1945, the Bank’s predecessor established a preparatory office to reorganize as today’s Chang Hwa Bank. After the Taiwan provincial government took control of Japanese shareholdings in Kabushiki Kaisha Shoka Ginko, the preparatory office conducted the Bank’s first shareholders’ meeting in February 1947, which elected Chang Hwa Bank’s first directors and supervisors under a new government. The new board elected the preparatory office’s head Ling Hsien-Tang as the Bank’s first chairman. Chang Hwa Bank was formally re-incorporated under ROC Law on March 1, 1947, with an initial capital of 15 million Taiwanese yuan and acquired a corporation registration certificate from Ministry of Economic Affairs in July 1950.

The Bank adjusted its registered capital accordingly to NT$2.4 million in December 1950. In December 1997, the Taiwan provincial government made public its shareholdings in the Bank in line with the government’s policy of financial privatization. The Bank was officially privatized on January 1, 1998.

In response to the trend of the financial industry venturing into other business sectors to raise competitiveness, the Bank established “CHB Life Insurance Agency Co., Ltd.” and “CHB Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd.” via joint ventures following the resolutions passed at the 2nd session of the 19th Board of Directors meeting and at the 80th session of the 19th Managing Directors’ meeting held on January 12, 2001 and November 14, 2002, respectively, in order to meet the market demand for “consumer finance, combination products and a full range of financial services” and to provide customers with comprehensive financial and insurance advisory and sales services under the objective of creating a “one-stop shopping” environment. However, in an attempt to reduce business tax burden, support government policy and offer better protection for consumers, the Bank undertook a short form merger on April 1, 2016 to acquire the abovementioned subsidiaries followed by the establishment of an Insurance Agency Division. Under this arrangement, the Bank assumed all rights and obligations of the respective companies, and added life and non-life insurance agency services as part of its business activities.

In 2005, the Bank carried out a 1.4 billion Type-B preferred shares cash capital increase via private placement. Taishin Financial Holdings Co., Ltd. (TSFHC) won the biding in the competition, with the cash capital increase date of record set for October 3, 2005. After the capital increase, the Bank had registered capital of NT$63,594,756,000. On October 3, 2008, the shares were fully converted to common stocks at the expiry of 3 years after issued date in accordance with the Bank’s articles of incorporation.

In order to provide more comprehensive financial services in China, the Bank established the subsidiary “Chang Hua Commercial Bank, Ltd.” which was approved by China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. The headquarter was based in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, with the existing Kunshan branch, Kunshan Huaqiao sub-branch, Dongguan branch and Fuzhou branch, and Nanjing branch was additionally set up. Nanjing subsidiary officially opened for business on December 11, 2018.

At the end of 2019, the Bank’s authorized capital stood at NT$110,000,000,000, and the Bank’s registered capital stood at NT$99,853,111,600. The Bank is one of the leading banks in Taiwan in terms of paid-in capital and sound financial structure.