Limit on ATM transfers sparks outrage

Government organizations were yesterday inundated with a flood of phone calls from members of the public condemning plans to limit money transfers from automatic teller machines (ATMs) to NT$10,000. Consumer advocates also urged the government to put the plans on hold.

Arguing that the reduced limit will cause great inconvenience to the public, the non-profit Consumers' Foundation yesterday called on the government to apply the brakes on this decision, which, the foundation says, is in violation of Article 30 of the Consumer Protection Law (消保法).

The article stipulates that the government should consult consumer advocacy groups, experts and professionals about issuing legislation or administrative measures meant to protect consumers, foundation chairman Jason Lee (李鳳翱) said.

Although this regulation does not carry fines or punishments for infringements, the Control Yuan can impeach policymakers for implementing this decision, said Christopher Kuo (郭尚義), convener of the foundation's financial panel.

In a bid to curb rampant fraud, the Ministry of the Interior announced on Tuesday that the maximum amount that can be transferred from an ATM machine without prior notice to the account holder's bank will be slashed from NT$100,000 to NT$10,000 per bank card per day.

Without first consulting banking institutions and financial experts, the ministry proposed that the rule take effect next Wednesday for a one-month test period before making a final adjustment based on the public's response.

The policy is expected to result in a surge in the number of clients having to stand in line at the bank to facilitate money transfers, which requires a handling fee of NT$30 per transaction from account holders and NT$100 from others. Conducting the same transaction at an ATM costs only NT$17.

To avoid paying the extra fees, some people might resort to conducting transfers through virtual banks on the Internet, which carries higher risks, Lee said.

According to the government-funded Financial Information Service Co (財金公司), around 400,000 money-transfer transactions are conducted daily through the nation's 21,600 ATMs. Forty percent of these transactions involve amounts exceeding NT$10,000.

While most banks said that it would be easy to alter the software on ATMs to comply with the new rule, they appeared lukewarm about the lack of consultation in policymaking.

Wang Wen-lung (王文龍) of the International Commercial Bank of China (中國商銀) said the rule would mean that growing numbers of credit-card payments will have to be made via bank counters, rather than at ATMs, thereby increasing banks' personnel and operation costs and wasting consumers' time and money.

Describing the policy as "unbelievable," Wang said that there are better ways to prevent ATM fraud, such as locating and freezing "nominal" accounts or stipulating that money transferred through ATMs can only be withdrawn after two hours.

Swindlers commonly use kidnappings or fake traffic accidents to deceive victims into transferring money into strangers' accounts, and a two-hour freeze on withdrawals would give the authorities enough time to expose such scams, Wang said.

The strong public backlash was felt yesterday at the Bankers' Association of the Republic of China (銀行公會) and the Bureau of Monetary Affairs, which received hundreds of phone calls from people expressing doubts and dissatisfaction about the new rule.