The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is to allow non-financial enterprises a majority stake in Taiwan’s Web-only banks.
The commission on Thursday finalized its guidelines for applicants seeking to compete for the two online-only bank licenses it is to issue.
The guidelines stipulate that non-financial enterprises are allowed to hold up to a 60 percent stake in an online-only bank, while lowering the minimum holding of financial institutions to 40 percent.
The change aims to create greater flexibility for non-financial sector companies to foster innovation, the commission said.
The change is a reversal of FSC Chairman Wellington Koo’s (顧立雄) earlier proposal that the banks should be majority-owned by financial institutions, as they have the experience to help newly established online-only banks comply with regulations.
However, more than half of the board of directors of Web-only banks must be represented by industry experts with backgrounds in banking, financial technology, e-commerce or telecommunications, the commission said.
Although non-financial enterprises can collectively hold a majority 60 percent stake, online-only banks must have at least one financial sector partner holding a 25 percent stake, the commission said.
Web-only banks should be considered a long-term investment, and financial companies would have to be prepared for the long haul, CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) president Daniel Wu (吳一揆) said at a company investors’ conference on Wednesday.
In entering uncharted waters, it could take up to five years for online-only banks to turn profitable, Wu said, adding that financial holding companies would need to carry losses from the venture on their books due to the commission’s requirements.
Wu said that CTBC Financial has prioritized the Indonesian and Philippine markets for online-only banks, with local technology industry partners leveraging the company’s existing bank branches in the countries.
Online banking is a much more efficient way to cover the two populous nations’ vast territories, which are made up of thousands of islands, he said.
Online-only banks would be required to meet the same anti-money laundering and illicit transaction rules as other banks, but E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) president Joseph Huang (黃男州) said he expects disruptive changes in financial regulations as new business models emerge.
Even without online banks, Web services have already reduced bank branch visits by 30 percent in the past two years, Huang said at an investors’ conference on Thursday.
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) received about NT$147 billion (US$4.71 billion) in subsidies from the US, Japanese, German and Chinese governments over the past two years for its global expansion. Financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed the company secured NT$4.77 billion in subsidies from the governments in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first three quarters of the year to about NT$71.9 billion. Along with the NT$75.16 billion in financial aid TSMC received last year, the chipmaker obtained NT$147 billion in subsidies in almost two years, the data showed. The subsidies received by its subsidiaries —
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
OUTLOOK: Pat Gelsinger said he did not expect the heavy AI infrastructure investments by the major cloud service providers to cause an AI bubble to burst soon Building a resilient energy supply chain is crucial for Taiwan to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology and grow its economy, former Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger said yesterday. Gelsinger, now a general partner at the US venture capital firm Playground Global LLC, was asked at a news conference in Taipei about his views on Taiwan’s hardware development and growing concern over an AI bubble. “Today, the greatest issue in Taiwan isn’t even in the software or in architecture. It is energy,” Gelsinger said. “You are not in the position to have a resilient energy supply chain, and that,
RSS