Taiwan's Mega Financial says no plan to invest in First Sino Bank

Mega Financial Holding Corejected a media report that it would acquire a 19.99% stake in Shanghai-based First Sino Bank, saying that it has no such a plan at present.

Earlier report said Mega Finance will buy a stake in the mainland bank via the Canadian or Thailand units of Mega Financial's wholly-owned subsidiary Mega International Commercial Bank, following the Taiwanese authorities' announcement last Wednesday that local banks can acquire as much as 20% stake in mainland counterparts via their overseas units.

First Sino Bank is a joint-stock bank by Hong Kong-registered Lotus Worldwide Ltd, Hong Kong Wing Hang Bank<302>, as well as Shanghai Pudong Development Bank<600000>. It ranked the fourteenth among Shanghai's joint-stock banks in 2006 by total assets.