The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it would continue to negotiate with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus on capping the maximum interest rate chargeable on credit and cash cards at 9 percent above the central bank’s interest rate for loans without collateral, or 12.5 percent at the current level.
The DPP yesterday boycotted the proposal after the financial regulator unilaterally reached a consensus with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
“The commission didn’t seek a consensus with the DPP before yesterday [Monday], but it will continue to communicate with its caucus,” commission Chief Secretary Lu Ting-chien (盧廷劼) told a media briefing yesterday.
Lu downplayed questions on why the commission had caved in and agreed with KMT legislators’ proposed rate cut, as it had previously proposed a top rate of 12 percent above the central bank’s rate.
The commission earlier sent 10 certified accountants as an independent third party to review the cost structures of banks’ credit-card businesses. The accountants are scheduled to produce a report later this month, which the commission originally hoped would help arbitrate on the rate policy.
Lu did not say why the commission had finalized the policy before the report had been produced. He said the commission would finalize the accountants’ review and that it still expected to publish a report later this month, even though several accountants have expressed their concern that it would be difficult to perform such a complicated review in this timeframe.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
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