Taiwan Regulator: Still Reviewing BBVA's Plan To Upgrade Into Branch

Taiwan's financial regulator said Friday it is still reviewing an application from Banco Bilboa Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA), Spain's second-largest bank by assets after Banco Santander S.A., to upgrade its representative office on the island into a branch, which would allow the Spanish bank to expand its business in Taiwan.

An official from the banking bureau of Financial Supervisory Commission told Dow Jones Newswires that BBVA submitted the application last month but no decisions had been made, denying a statement posted on the website of the Ministry of Economic Affairs late Thursday that said "the FSC has recently given BBVA a preliminary approval on the application."

The official from FSC, who asked not to be named, said: "There is no such system of preliminary approval. It's either approved or not approved."

A spokesman for the ministry, who declined to be named, said BBVA's application is still under review. "By 'preliminary approval on the application' we meant BBVA has all the documents ready for the application," the spokesman said.

Phillip Li, BBVA's representative in Taiwan, told Dow Jones Newswires the application to upgrade its office was submitted in June and is still under review by the regulator.

He added that BBVA plans to inject EUR15 million into its Taiwan unit by the end of this year to fund the upgrade. Having branch status will allow the bank to expand into wholesale, corporate and investment banking, he said.

-By Jenny W. Hsu and Fanny Liu, Dow Jones Newswires; +886 2 2502 2557; jenny.hsu@dowjones.com

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