Cathay Financial Holding Co. Ltd.

Its ESG Score ranks in the top 2% of the global insurance industry, driving ESG leadership through Climate, Health and Empowerment.

TAIPEI, May 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cathay Financial Holdings (Cathay FHC) has reinforced its position as a global sustainability leader, securing inclusion in the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices (DJBIC, formerly DJSI) World Index for the eighth consecutive year and the Emerging Markets Index for the eleventh. Cathay FHC has been recognized as a Top 5% Member in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook 2026. Notably, its ESG Score ranks in the top 2% of the global insurance industry, outperforming 98% of its international peers and highlighting its ability to translate ESG execution into a measurable competitive advantage.

The ranking highlights Cathay FHC's strength across core governance and risk disciplines, with full scores in areas including Transparency & Reporting, Risk & Crisis Management, Policy Influence, Information Security, Sustainable Finance, Human Rights, Financial Inclusion, Customer Relations and Privacy Protection. Strong performance in Climate Strategy, Labor Practices, and Human Capital Management further signals a shift beyond compliance toward embedding sustainability into capital allocation and long-term value creation.

Cathay FHC's strategy is anchored in three pillars—Climate, Health, and Empowerment—through which it is scaling its influence across the financial ecosystem. The company has established a Corporate Sustainability Committee under the Board of Directors as a functional committee to strengthen sustainable governance. The Committee oversees the executive-level ESG Strategy Committee and its six task forces, which are responsible for implementing sustainability initiatives.

On climate, the group is leveraging its balance sheet and investment capabilities to accelerate the low-carbon transition, influencing companies responsible for more than 200 million tons of annual carbon emissions to commit to net-zero targets, while advancing ESG disclosure standards across supply chains. Its subsidiaries, including Cathay Life Insurance, Cathay United Bank, Cathay Century Insurance and Cathay Securities were all named to the Taiwan Stock Exchange's List of Institutional Investors with Better Stewardship Disclosure 2025.

The company is expanding its presence in renewable energy and climate finance, further strengthening its sustainability impact. Its banking and insurance arms were early movers in financing and investing in solar and offshore wind projects, while actively engaging with global initiatives such as RE100 and Climate Action 100+. Cathay Financial Holdings has stepped up its engagement with major global climate forums, maintaining a continuous presence at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP) since 2021. President Chang-Ken Lee has also been invited for three consecutive years to the World Climate Summit to present Asia-focused perspectives on climate finance.

In addition, in 2025, Cathay FHC further integrated biodiversity and natural capital into its decision-making processes and announced its endorsement of the Belém Investor Statement on Tropical Forests, demonstrating its support for global forest conservation efforts.

Beyond climate, Cathay FHC is extending its impact through financial health initiatives. Cathay Life Insurance has advanced its "Wellness" brand value since 2024, investing over NT$200 million to build "Wellness" promotion mechanisms, while embedding incentive-based wellness features across its health insurance portfolio to incorporate preventive care into customers' daily lives. Its annual "Every Step Counts" campaign has drawn nearly one million participants, collectively logged over 272.7 billion steps and contributed more than NT$28 million to charitable causes nationwide.

Serving more than 60% of Taiwan's population, the group is deploying integrated insurance, banking and asset management capabilities to enhance financial resilience. Its efforts span financial literacy, inclusive product design and anti-fraud infrastructure, where a multi-layered defense framework has delivered tangible results in fraud prevention, reinforcing trust in the financial system. Cathay United Bank prevented over 2,000 fraud cases in 2025, averting more than NT$1.7 billion in losses, according to the latest statistics from Taiwan's National Police Agency.

On empowerment, Cathay FHC is advancing both workforce and societal inclusion as a driver of sustainable growth. Internally, it promotes a "Place for All" culture focused on workplace inclusion, supported by progressive workforce policies that address demographic and generational shifts. In 2025, its "Employee Engagement Survey" reached new highs in overall satisfaction, while retention within one year after parental leave approached 90%. The company was also recognized for the seventh time as one of Asia's Best Employers, underscoring sustained external validation of its workplace strategy.

Externally, the group continues to invest in youth and women's empowerment through education, entrepreneurship, and sports development, expanding its long-term social impact footprint.

Looking ahead, Cathay FHC is deepening its focus on low-carbon investment and financing, product innovation, and international engagement. By aligning its financial capabilities with global sustainability agendas, the company is positioning itself not only as a participant, but as a catalyst in Asia's transition toward a net-zero economy—while strengthening its role as a benchmark institution in sustainable finance.

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SOURCE Cathay Financial Holdings

TAIPEI, Feb. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As Taiwan's largest integrated asset management group, Cathay Financial Holdings (Cathay FHC) continues to expand its platform by leveraging more than six decades of investment expertise and over USD 325 billion in assets under management.

Cathay FHC leverages its group-wide resources across three core growth engines—Banking, Insurance, and Asset Management. Both Cathay United Bank and Cathay Life Insurance are among the first batch of institutions approved to conduct pilot operations in the Kaohsiung Zone of the Asian Asset Management Center. This underscores the group's strong alignment with national policy priorities and its commitment to playing a key role in advancing Taiwan's ambition to become a leading Asset Management Center in Asia.

Cathay FHC President Lee Chang-Ken noted that Taiwan's aspiration to become an Asian asset management hub has accelerated following the FSC's sweeping regulatory reforms last year. More than 50 rules have been amended and 38 new business activities authorized within the Kaohsiung Zone—advances that materially enhance Taiwan's international competitiveness.

President Lee underscored Taiwan's distinctive strengths. Unlike Hong Kong and Singapore, Taiwan is not only a center of capital allocation but also a generator of wealth, supported by a vibrant industrial base. Over the past three decades, Taiwan's market capitalization has surged from USD 211 billion to USD 3 trillion, while annual cash dividends have risen from USD 13 billion to more than USD 65 billion—supporting the rise of the world's 15th-largest millionaire population. To unlock further potential, Lee recommended adopting a risk-based supervisory approach that aligns leverage limits with each institution's credit profile and risk discipline—rewarding prudent players, constraining risk-taking, and strengthening Taiwan's appeal to long-term capital.

Guided by the principle of "rooted in Taiwan, reaching the world," Cathay FHC's asset management arm provides corporate clients, high-net-worth individuals, and institutional investors with a broad range of investment solutions across asset classes, encompassing both active and passive strategies. With risk management as a central pillar, Cathay FHC integrates group-wide resources spanning wealth management, insurance solutions, and capital market investments to build a comprehensive, cross-platform asset management platform.

Under this strategic blueprint, Cathay Securities Investment Trust (Cathay SITE) serves as the core of the group's asset management arm, supported by the scale, capital strength, and distribution capabilities of Cathay Life Insurance and Cathay United Bank. This restructuring establishes a solid foundation for a platform with the scale, depth, and institutional capabilities required to compete effectively on a regional stage—and to realize Cathay FHC's long-term ambition to become a sizable and influential asset manager in Asia.

Cathay SITE Chairman Alan Lee noted that Cathay SITE and Cathay Life Insurance have begun full-scale integration across systems, talent, investment processes, and governance to build a scalable regional asset management platform. The long-term ambition is clear: expand AUM from USD 75 billion today to USD 488 billion within a decade, positioning Cathay SITE as one of Asia's leading asset managers.

Talent remains central to achieving this vision. Cathay FHC employs approximately 300 investment professionals across equities, fixed income, FX, and alternative assets—more than 100 of whom have over 11 years of experience. The group will deepen partnerships with global universities to attract interdisciplinary talent in data science, technology, and ESG, supported by cross-market mobility programs spanning Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Alan Lee also announced that Cathay SITE will undertake a comprehensive upgrade of its investment research infrastructure. The firm plans to engage a top-tier global technology provider and draw on Cathay FHC's digital and AI teams to embed advanced analytics, AI-powered forecasting, and decision-support tools into investment, research, and distribution workflows.

Cathay Life Insurance currently manages approximately USD 260 billion in assets, with USD 6.5 billion delegated to Cathay SITE and USD 65 billion to overseas managers. As Cathay Life Insurance increases the proportion of assets entrusted to Cathay SITE—excluding loans and real estate but covering at least 90–95% of other investable asset classes—Cathay SITE's AUM is expected to expand significantly, with equities and funds transitioning first.

Cathay SITE has outlined four strategic priorities to guide its transformation: integrating the group's investment research capabilities, building a comprehensive product shelf across active funds, passive funds, and ETFs, upgrading its investment research systems through a global technology partnership, and accelerating its expansion across Asia.

Cathay FHC is stepping up its international push. In September 2025, its asset-management unit partnered with Japan's Daiwa Asset Management to list the first Taiwan-Japan cross-border linked ETF on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, expanding its offshore product lineup and giving investors a lower-friction route to Japanese real estate. The group has since moved into the active-ETF space, securing approval to launch an actively managed Taiwan-equities ETF.

Cathay United Bank is also expanding its global offerings, introducing exclusive distribution through early 2026 for asset-backed income solutions from a leading international manager in the Kaohsiung Zone of the Asian Asset Management Center, and partnering with a U.S. middle-market credit specialist to provide institutional-grade private-credit investments amid tighter global regulation.

Cathay FHC recently hosted the second Cathay Asset Management Summit, convening global experts to examine critical megatrends reshaping the investment landscape—from AI-driven innovation to Taiwan equities, global fixed income, private credit, and alternative assets. The summit attracted more than 12,000 registrants, setting a new record.

Looking ahead, Cathay FHC will continue to deliver forward-looking allocation strategies, strengthen its partnerships with investors, and reinforce Taiwan's emergence as a leading Asian Asset Management Center through concrete initiatives and disciplined execution.

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SOURCE Cathay Financial Holdings