Chinatrust Commercial Bank, the flagship bank of one of Taiwan's biggest financial groups, aims to double risk-adjusted profit every three to five years for the next decade, its new chief executive and chairman said yesterday.

Michael DeNoma, a former Standard Chartered executive, was appointed chairman last summer and chief executive yesterday. He said he hoped to transform Chinatrust, one of Taiwan's oldest and most prominent banking groups, into “the first truly international Chinese bank” and expand existing operations in foreign markets such as Indonesia, India and the US.

Chinatrust's ambitions reflect the increasingly outward-looking nature of big Taiwanese banks, which face a saturated and highly competitive market at home. Victor Kung, president of Fubon, another big Taiwanese bank, told the Financial Times that Fubon hoped to become a powerhouse in eastern China by servicing local customers rather than their traditional clientele of Taiwanese business people abroad.