DBS Bank (星展銀行) yesterday launched a new online service called the “DBS Digital Savings Account,” which allows clients to make deposits, exchange foreign currencies and invest online, but does not allow remittances, in a bid to attract young people.
“In Taiwan, banks close at 3:30pm, but the younger generation, who usually get off work late, cannot make it to conventional banks,” DBS Bank general manager Lim Him-chuan (林鑫川) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday, adding that they also prefer using online services, especially on mobile devices.
By using the new service, clients can save time, and use the service any time and anywhere, Lim said, adding that the service also enables clients to feel spontaneous.
Photo: Grace Kao, Taipei Times
After acquiring Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s retail banking business in Taiwan last year, DBS Bank now has more than 600,000 credit card users, who it hopes to transform into clients with personal savings accounts, Lim said.
Fifteen percent of DBS Bank’s clientele are under the age of 35 and the bank plans to expand its young client base through the new service, DBS Bank head of consumer banking Seraph Sun (孫可基) said.
The new service, which is only available for new clients and those who have held a DBS Bank credit card for at least six months, is different from the bank’s Internet banking service, as it allows clients to open an account online, which Internet banking service users cannot do, Sun said.
Clients using the new service can open a new account within 10 minutes on average, as it takes less time for the bank to fulfill the “know your customer” (KYC) requirement, because the new service offers only simple functions, such as making deposits, exchanging foreign currency or buying funds, he said.
If a client wants to make a remittance, which is more strictly regulated, they still need to visit a physical branch so the bank can fulfill its KYC requirement, Sun said.
“The digital banking service is the future,” Lim said.
Sun added that online applications for DBS Bank credit cards, which were launched in August, already account for 54 percent of total applications.
DBS Bank runs Web-only banks in India, which signed up millions of clients within two years, but the bank decided to follow a different strategy in Taiwan, as there are too many banks in the nation, Lim said, adding that Web-only banks and digital savings accounts both have their strong points.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS