Interest rates are nearing a peak and should see only a mild increase in the future, a Union Bank of Taiwan (
"Even if the central bank decides to raise interest rates again [late this month], there's not much room for interest rates to go up any further," said Herman Tu (
Tu said that the banking sector's interest rates for one-year time deposits had risen by 100 basis points to around 2.6 percent in the past year and should see only a moderate rise in the future.
To attract time depositors, Union Bank in mid-January introduced a special rate offer of 3 percent for three-year time deposits of less than NT$1.5 million (US$48,600), Tu said.
This compares with its peers' offers of 2.3 percent to 2.7 percent for three-year time deposits.
Interest payments for the special rate offer, which runs until April 17, will be made on a monthly basis. So far, the bank has absorbed more than NT$2 billion in new three-year time deposits.
Tu also expressed confidence in the bank's loans business, saying it had granted NT$110 billion in mortgages, NT$65 billion in corporate loans and NT$10 billion in car loans.
The bank, which has 79 branches nationwide, expects to add eight branches in Taipei and Taoyuan in the next two years.
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