Several state-run banks are offering debt relief programs to help customers weather the effects of an outbreak of COVID-19.
Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), the nation’s largest lender by number of branches, yesterday said that it had set aside NT$10 billion (US$333 million) for a special program to help corporate and retail customers affected by the epidemic.
The virus has played havoc on the nation’s tourism, transportation, retail and hospitality sectors as global authorities put in place travel restrictions to prevent its spread.
Taiwan Cooperative said that it would also push back payments by up to three months for customers who are quarantined in their homes or stranded abroad and unable to honor their debt obligations.
There would be no fines or additional interest charges in those cases, the bank said.
Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) said that it would allow small and medium-sized enterprises to take out loans of up to NT$1 million each to alleviate cash strains due to the outbreak.
Land Bank, the nation’s largest mortgage operator, said that it would grant favorable interest rates and forgo application fees for transactions under the relief program.
Payments on existing loans could be extended by three months as long as firms and individuals can document the link between their financial difficulty and the epidemic, it said.
Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), another state-run lender focused on international financing, said that it would provide corporate customers low-interest rate loans for up to three years.
Customers can apply for loans over the Internet, the lender said.
It said it would not fine customers for delayed credit card payments caused by the outbreak.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last