Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday revealed that Japan’s Line Corp and Rakuten Inc have consulted with the regulator about opening Web-only banks in Taiwan.
The two companies have visited the commission to inquire about regulations, Koo told the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee.
While the commission is still drafting regulations, it has said that online-only banks would be held to the same standards as brick-and-mortar institutions and must have minimum paid-in capital of NT$10 million (US$343 million).
The capital requirement would not form a significant hurdle for the two Japanese companies, Koo said, noting if they met the threshold, Web-only banks would be granted a license to operate as full-service banks.
Line Corp, which operates the most popular social messaging app in Taiwan, and Rakuten, an e-commerce giant that has a local credit card business, are aiming to cross-sell the planned financial services to their existing customer base, Koo said.
The FSC is expected to finish laying the groundwork for Web-only regulations next month.
Separately, the commission is to shore up rules on proxy solicitation after FAT Group (樺福遠航集團) chairman Chang Kang-wei (張綱維) secured nearly 30 percent of votes with the help of agencies and other investors to win five seats on the board of COTA Commercial Bank (三信商銀).
To close the loophole, the commission is drafting an amendment that would limit the amount of voting shares that can be acquired by any individual or group working to achieve a specific election outcome to 3 percent.
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