Speech by Thomas Chou President at Far Eastern International Bank Spring Wine Conference

        Today is the Spring Wine of the Golden Dragon Year. People from Far Eastern International Bank gathered in Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center to celebrate a record profit in 2023; Today is also the make termination conference, where Far Eastern International Bank personnel sounded the battle horn to welcome 2024, declaring their strong fighting spirit, continuing to strive for new heights!

                Looking back at 2023, in the face of major environmental changes such as global geopolitical turmoil, high inflation, and the landing of AI intelligent technology, Far Eastern International Bank has weathered the storm and achieved a historic high in profits. Thank you to every colleague, you are all co creators of last year's record high profit for Far Eastern International Bank!

        It is commendable that various indicators of financial fitness have also set new records simultaneously, including a record high capital adequacy ratio, a record low bad debt ratio, the best asset quality, and a strong increase in current management ratio. With the combination of profitability and financial resilience, Far Eastern International Bank has successfully crossed the starting line for its fourth decade!

        Looking forward to 2024, Far Eastern International Bank's strategic management remains unchanged in its direction of "long-term stable growth". We continue to layout a four axis drive transformation of "cross-border * digital&AI * brand * sustainability", providing customers with high-quality financial services that are cross-border, digital, and life oriented. Combined with a rigorous risk management mechanism and key talent pool reserve, we have consolidated into Far Eastern International Bank's core competitiveness, organized with efficiency that keeps pace with the times, and established the goal of achieving long-term stable growth. The following are the five important strategies for 2024:

        1、 Long term stable growth

                The assets and business scale of the entire bank are steadily expanding. Under the ambitious goal of becoming a big bank or considering the establishment of a financial holding company, the resources to be used in the future include comprehensive efficiency of the group or external financial industry mergers and acquisitions. The short-term goal is to achieve a total asset value of NTD820 billion by the end of this year. At the same time, the territory of cross-border finance and international syndicated loan business is also expanding day by day. In the New Year of the the Year of the Loong, the Singapore office has started the preparatory work for upgrading to a branch, striving to open the second overseas branch of Far Eastern International Bank at the end of next year, so as to meet the booming business opportunities of ASEAN market and South Asia in the transfer of supply chain.

        2、 Transforming from Digital to AI Applications

        Douglas Hsu is visionary, and more than a decade ago, he enthusiastically reminded us that everything is digital, digital, and used the annual Spring Wine Conference to reveal new economic insights such as AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile technology changing supply chains and business models to all Far Eastern International Bank members, inspiring us to innovate and transform, and connect to the new era. Along the way, Far Eastern International Bank's digital transformation is full of innovative stories, and Douglas Hsu's foresight and attention are crucial leadership and support forces. Last year, while colleagues were planning and developing the most suitable financial application of AI, Douglas Hsu invited industry experts to the Far Eastern Group Annual Strategy Meeting to give lectures to managers, delving into the AI field from technical applications, work efficiency, AI governance, and planning an "Application Development Workshop" to lead the attending managers in brainstorming and exploring feasible directions for integrating AI with operations. AI implementation is a top priority for Far Eastern International Bank this year. In addition to its application in robot finance, customer service relationship improvement, service process improvement, and intelligent customer service upgrades, other areas such as strengthening AML fraud prevention, deepening legal compliance, and risk management have also been fully developed by AI at Far Eastern International Bank.

        In addition, the digital flagship brand Bankee of our bank was launched in 2018, and after years of effort, it has entered a high growth period from its introduction period. Not only has its popularity been verified through market research, and it has been promoted to become one of the heavyweight brands in Taiwan's pure online banking industry, but it has also driven a surge in customer acquisition, with a surge in customer numbers exceeding 200000 and a deposit balance breaking through the NTD17 billion mark! Under the strong growth momentum, Far Eastern International Bank's goal of exceeding 300000 customers and breaking through NTD 30 billion in deposit balance is a bold commitment to entering the pure online banking market and facing the digital future.

        3、 ESG Sustainable Navigation

        In the practical aspect of the sustainable concept, Far Eastern International Bank not only pursues the best performance of the defending regulatory authority in corporate governance, fair customer service, etc., but also follows the corporate governance spirit based on responsibility, constructs a responsibility map for senior managers, defines the functions and responsibilities of the Chairman and senior managers, and implements a system of accountability, accountability, accountability, and accountability; We have completed the construction of the first solar panel branch in the low-carbon demonstration area and expect to launch a 100% all green electricity demonstration branch this year, moving towards zero carbon emissions. The sustainable financial business includes investment, credit, inclusive financial products, green financial products, etc., all of which are set with active KPI management, with predictable explosive power.

        4、 Strengthen risk management

        Faced with the growth period of asset and business scale, the capacity of risk management must be constructed synchronously. This year, Far Eastern International Bank will promote three major risk management projects, namely: 1. Joining the SBTi (Science Based Targets Initiative) initiative, setting science based carbon reduction goals, and implementing climate risk management; 2、 Import the FRTB (Fundamental Review of the Trading Book) evaluation system module to enhance market risk management mechanisms; 3、 Establish a financial credit rating model to improve the efficiency of credit risk management.

                5、 Complete human resources

        As a recipient of the Asia Best Employer Award, Corporate Employer Care Award, and Happy Enterprise Gold Award, Far Eastern International Bank is committed to creating a diverse, equal, and inclusive workplace environment. It invests more in the development of its employees in professional functions, enriches the reserve of key talent pool, elevates employees' international perspectives and language abilities, and prepares them for future internationalization progress.

        Shenlong held his head high, the new year has begun, and the above action plan has either been launched or is on the verge of being launched. Today, through the gathering of Far Eastern South and North Universities, we will reveal our core strategy and hope that our colleagues can understand the key directions and main action tasks of Far Eastern International Bank this year. Let us work together to face 2024, strive for another historic high in profitability, and fight tirelessly for a stronger Far Eastern International Bank! Come on!

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