Legislators on the Finance Committee passed a non-binding resolution yesterday asking the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to remove banks charging monthly maintenance fees on small savings accounts from its blanket deposit guarantee program.
The resolution, which was endorsed by ruling and opposition lawmakers, said the commission should delist banks that seek to impose maintenance fees on savings accounts with a balance of less than NT$10,000 (US$290).
The move came after Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan (渣打銀行) and Ta Chong Bank (大眾銀行) announced plans to charge a monthly fee for accounts with balances under NT$10,000.
Ta Chong announced last Thursday that starting May 5 it would charge a NT$95 monthly fee, although it would pay interest on every NT$1 deposited.
Standard Chartered announced on Tuesday that it would charge a NT$85 fee, starting late next month.
Lawmakers said maintenance fees would run counter to the government’s policy of supporting the financial sector in the hope that lenders would extend the generosity to their clients.
Central bank Governor Perng Fei-nan (彭淮南) told the committee that banks should inform their customers before charging a fee. But he declined to comment further, saying the issue was outside his jurisdiction.
However, Lin Tung-liang (林棟樑), deputy director of the commission’s banking bureau, would not say if the FSC would respond to the resolution and remove the two banks from its blanket deposit guarantee scheme.
“The commission respects the legislature’s decision and urges the banking sector to prudently re-evaluate the new fee policy,” he told a media briefing.
Lin said the deposit guarantee scheme aims to limit the banking sector from any systematic risk.
He was equally ambivalent when asked if the commission could regulate individual banks’ relationships with their clients if the banks abide by the law and fully disclose details of the contracts.
“As long as banks truthfully disclose their terms and give a grace period, they won’t break the law, such as the Fair Trade Law (公平交易法 ),” he said.
However, in a statement last night, the central bank said it and the FSC had talked to Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan and Ta Chong Bank representatives about the maintenance fee issue, and the two banks promised to reconsider their decision.
The two banks released their own statements last night as well, saying that they had decided to put the maintenance fee plans on hold.
“As depositors may need more time to integrate their idle accounts, Ta Chong decided to rescind the policy,” the bank said.
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