Members of the Financial Technology Consulting Committee yesterday clashed over an initiative aimed at accelerating development to ensure that the nation is prepared for changes as the global market increases the digitization of financial services.
The Financial Supervisory Commission in September formed a new office, along with a consulting committee made up of 15 to 20 experts drawn from the financial and technology sectors, to oversee the integration of resources for boosting development of financial technology (fintech), a crucial emerging industry that would enable the nation to maintain its competitiveness amid the “Bank 3.0” shift.
As of yesterday, NT$200 million (US$6.11 million) of a planned NT$1 billion fund earmarked for the endeavor had been collected from financial-sector companies, the commission said.
However, because the major contributors to the fund are financial companies, a number of committee members expressed concerns that the arrangement might only cater to the financial institutions while neglecting the needs of the technology sector and electronic commerce companies.
“In my view, Taiwan’s financial firms have been operating in a coddled environment, they are like sheep, but wolves are needed right now as we prepare for the immense changes on the horizon,” National Taiwan University of Science and Technology professor Lu Hsi-peng (盧希鵬) said.
“While Internet-based payment transactions are critical to the business model for multiplayer online games, in banks’ eyes it is just an additional offering to its existing services, they simply do not have the hunger to propel the sort of destructive innovation required for change,” Lu said.
Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said that the amount of money is not the issue and that priority should be given to enlisting the right team.
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