Taiwan's increasingly dangerous credit-card problem

In a rather strongly worded statement on Monday (March 27), Fitch Ratings revised the rating outlooks for Taiwan's Chinatrust and Taishin banking groups, as well as that of Far Eastern International Bank, to negative from stable.

"The outlook revision reflects Fitch's general concerns over Taiwan's banking system brought about by the banks' aggressive growth in unsecured consumer loans and the subsequent deterioration in the quality of such loans as compounded by the authorities' inept handling of the unfolding debacle," says Jonathan Lee, senior director in Fitch's financial ...