E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) yesterday launched its first branch offering Chinese-English bilingual services on the National Taiwan University (NTU) campus.
It is also the lender’s first branch on the campus, E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) president Joseph Huang (黃男州) told a news conference in Taipei.
While the Financial Supervisory Commission usually does not allow banks to open new branches in the greater Taipei area, as the market is already overcrowded, it allowed E.Sun Bank to open the branch, as it supports the government’s policy of increasing lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, Huang said.
The bilingual service is expected to make it more convenient for the university’s foreign students and faculty to use the bank’s services, as well as other foreigners who attend international meetings there, Huang said.
All banking services, such as opening an account, making deposits, transferring funds and loan applications, would be offered in English.
The branch has 13 employees who are fluent in English and who have scored an average 850 points in the Test of English for International Communication, he added.
All the signs and application forms at the branch are bilingual, and it is equipped with an automatic teller machine allowing users to withdraw foreign currencies, he said.
Given that school teachers and students are busy, the branch would encourage them to use its mobile app, where they can file the application forms, Huang said.
Customers who show the QR codes produced by the app at the branch would not need to fill out any forms, he said.
The bank plans to offer bilingual services at two other branches in central and southern Taiwan by the end of this year, while making six counters among its 139 branches bilingual soon, Huang said.
Meanwhile, Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) and DBS Bank Taiwan (星展台灣) are to offer bilingual services at their two existing branches in Taipei’s Tianmu (天母) area from today, as many foreigners live there, the banks said.
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