(August 4, 2004, Taipei) SinoPac Holdings' unaudited net income for the first half of 2004 reached NT$2,984 million, or 52% of its 2004 forecast of NT$5,788 million. Of the said first half unaudited net income, major subsidiaries Bank SinoPac, SinoPac Securities and AnShin Card contributed NT$1,928 million, NT$941 million, and NT$183 million, respectively.

Based on weighted average shares for the first half of 2004, the preliminary EPS amounted to NT$0.84. Based on outstanding shares as at 30 June 2004, the preliminary book value per share reached NT$13.60, with ROE reaching 12.56%.

The four business groups, Individual Financial Services, Wealth Management, Institutional Financial Services, and Financial Market, which began operational from the beginning of this year, roughly contributed 24%, 32%, 24%, and 17% respectively to the bottom line of SinoPac Holdings for the first half of 2004.

The Individual Financial Services Group's financial department store business model is built on the MMA platform. It engages itself in businesses and services related to both interest spreads and fee incomes while targeting at the wealth management and consumer banking activities of the middle class. As of the end of the first half, its consumer loan portfolio has expanded to NT$157.2 billion, cards in force reached some 1.2 million, and MMA accounts came close to 220,000.

The Wealth Management Group provides its clients with comprehensive services and a complete range of products in brokerage and sale of securities as well as trust and custody of financial assets. For the first half of the year, its turnovers in the securities brokerage and the futures and options markets were both ranked No. 4 with 4.9% and 5.6% in market share, respectively.

The Institutional Financial Services Group is aimed at offering its corporate customers a full suite of services in both corporate banking and capital market. The credits extended by this group have approached some 50% of the total credits of Bank SinoPac, helping Bank SinoPac in transforming nicely into a bank which has become more balanced in its overall banking business. Its powerful cash and wealth management platform, the CrossPacific Account (CPA), spanning Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and the USA, is expected to enroll 2,500 corporate accounts by the end of this year. The platform is expected to further expand into Vietnam by the end of 2004.

The Financial Market Group, incorporating the treasury division of Bank SinoPac and the proprietary trading division of SinoPac Securities, aims to realize the synergy of whatever resources SinoPac Holdings has to offer so that profits may be maximized. In the face of a very challenging financial market in general and a sagging stock market in particular in the second quarter, this group still managed to contribute around 17% of SinoPac Holdings' net income for the first half of the year.

With respect to its approaches to growing its size, SinoPac Holdings' CEO, Paul Lo, indicated that it can continue to grow organically, acquire small financial institutions, merge with big financial institutions in the private sector, consolidate with government owned or controlled financial institutions, or merge with multi-national financial institutions.

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