Bank Profile The Bank was established through the reorganization of the ¡§Taiwan Industry Bank¡¨ of the Japanese-occupation era. Capitalization in the amount of 25 million Old Taiwan Dollars was provided by the Taiwan Provincial Government along with cooperative groups, farmers¡¦ associations, fishermen¡¦s associations, and irrigation associations. The operating scale of the Bank has been constantly expanded thanks to the efforts of its entire staff over the past 60 years, and at the end of 2006 its capitalization stood at NT$45 billion. The Bank achieved corporate status under the provisions of Article 52 of the Banking Law in May 1985. It was reorganized as the Taiwan Cooperative Bank Co., Ltd. on Jan. 1, 2001; went public in June 2003; was listed on the stock market on Nov. 17, 2004; changed its name to the Taiwan Cooperative Bank in 2006; and merged with the Farmers Bank of China on May 1 that year. As of Dec. 31, 2006 the Bank had a total of 301 domestic and overseas branches (including the Manila Branch, Los Angeles Branch, Seattle Branch, Beijing Representative Office, and Hong Kong Representative Office), giving us the most extensive branch network of all Taiwan banks and putting us in a position of market leadership in share of deposits and loans. According to the statistics published in the July 2006 issue of The Banker magazine, in the assets ranking of top 1,000 banks the TCB placed 159th in the world and second in Taiwan, after only the Bank of Taiwan. The TCB, Bank of Taiwan, Land Bank of Taiwan, and Taiwan Business Bank have jointly established the United Taiwan Bank in Belgium, with the TCB taking a 70% share of its equity. In addition, the TCB established the wholly-owned Cooperative Bank Assets Management Co. on Oct. 18, 2005 and, on Mar. 22, 2006, boosted its capitalization to a total of NT$3.5 billion. On Nov. 25, 2005 the Bank established the wholly-owned Cooperative Bank Insurance Brokerage Co. with an investment of NT$10 million. Also, in line with the government¡¦s policy of clearing up cash- and credit-card debt and unsecured debt, the Bank also participated in the establishment of the Sunshine Asset Management Co. on Apr. 21, 2006 with an investment of NT$430,880 via Debt-for-Equity Swap. Under the TCB Charter, the Bank is charged with carrying out the missions of operating a banking business, developing national economic construction, and providing financial adjustment for the farming and fishery industries. In addition to providing financing for cooperative enterprises, the farming and fishery industries, and small and medium enterprises, the TCB also offers deposit, loan, and foreign exchange services for business enterprises in general to facilitate funds utilization and promote overall economic development. This makes the TCB a consolidated international bank for farming, fishery, cooperative, and business financing.