Taiwanese manufacturers are looking at setting up plants in the Philippines to expand their footprint in the Asean market.
Cathay Financial Holdings Co. Ltd. President Lee Chang-Ken said Taiwanese manufacturers, some of them their clients, are interested in setting up their businesses in the Philippine economic zones.
Companies in the manufacturing sector, he said, are looking at the Philippines for expansion, as well as the famous food chains.
“The chairman of the medical-equipment company came to the Philippines three months ago. He visited the Philippines for more than 10 times. They plan to put up a plant in Subic. The chairman said the country has large young population and there are very good English speakers. They feel very comfortable investing here,” he added. “Executives of Din Tai Fung also visited the Philippines two months ago. They said the Philippine market is very good,” he said.
“The Philippines is one of the fastest-growing among Asian countries. We feel that there’s a big progress in the Philippines, especially in the past five years. There’ll be a pretty good change in the Philippine economic development in the future. I see that Philippines still needs some infrastructure development. I think the government will focus on investments in infrastructure,” Lee told the BusinessMirror.
With the investments of Cathay in Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), the bank can also serve Cathay’s clients that are expanding their business in the Philippines.
“There are customers for RCBC beginning next year. Hopefully, the deal should be completed in the first quarter of next year. We’ll see whatever we can do to help the bank, in whatever resources they need. They have a good management team and they’re doing well,” he said.
Cathay is the largest asset manager in Taiwan and will bring significant expertise to RCBC in this regard, as the bank looks to increase its offerings.