The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) would soon approve three financial technology (fintech) sandbox experiments involving insurance sales, blockchain technology and fund management, FSC Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
The commission would allow ezTravel Co (易遊網) to sell travel insurance policies provided by Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) on its Web site, exempting it from regulations on selling insurance, Koo said.
People can only purchase policies online from insurers’ Web sites, but in the experiment, they would be able to choose policies and pay the premiums directly to EzTravel, Koo said.
However, EzTravel cannot spend the premiums freely and must deposit them in a dedicated bank account and transfer them to Cathay Life on a regular basis, he said.
EzTravel would not be allowed to sell other kinds of insurance, he added.
If the experiment makes it more convenient for people to purchase travel insurance online, the commission would amend regulations to allow more institutions to cooperate with insurers, Koo said.
Second, the FSC would allow Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) and Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) to use blockchain technology in their domestic fund transfer and payment services, and to address information flows, Koo said.
As domestic fund transfer and payment services are already fast and convenient, they are not expected to be any faster in the experiment, but the banks could check if the blockchain technology is viable, Department of Planning Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Only clients of the two banks can take part in the experiment, Lin said.
If the technology is proven to be reliable, the commission might allow the banks to adopt the technology in their remittance service, he said.
Remittances, which usually take a few days if conducted through banks, are expected to be faster with the help of blockchain technology, Lin added.
Third, the commission said it would allow How-Investech Inc (好好投資科技), a financial technology company, to partner with Far Eastern International Bank (遠東商銀) to provide new fund management services, Koo said.
Customers who have purchased fund products offered by the bank would be able to exchange their products with those of other customers without paying redemption fees, Koo said, adding that the company would also use blockchain technology in the experiment.
The commission has approved the applications for the experiments and would make an official announcement soon, including the number of participants and the amount of exposure, Koo said.
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
RSS