Lawmakers on the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee on Monday called for the relaxation of the rules governing the use of the Postal Savings Fund, which this year has NT$6.7 trillion (US$216.4 billion) in capital.
The fund consists of Chunghwa Post’s savings, remittances and life insurance capital and is one of the government’s four major public funds.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) said nation’s total budget is less than NT$2 trillion per year, while the Postal Savings Fund is larger than the Labor Insurance Fund (NT$6.994 billion), Labor Pension Fund (NT$2.506 billion) and Public Service Pension Fund (US$548 billion).
However, the Postal Savings Fund had the worst performance among the four funds last year, Cheng said, adding that it only grew by 1.59 percent, compared with a 4.02 percent growth rate for the Labor Insurance Fund, a 3.23 percent increase for the Labor Pension Fund and a 2.01 percent increase for the Public Service Pension Fund.
The government should relax the regulations on how the fund can be used, allowing the capital to be used to offer various financial products, the lawmaker said.
“If the Postal Savings Fund can generate a profit that amounts to 1 percent of its capital, the nation can earn NT$67 billion per year. The nation could pocket NT$134 billion if the fund produces a profit that amounts to 2 percent of the capital,” he said.
Such a profit could cover the cost of building a direct railway connecting Taipei and Yilan, which has been priced at between NT$30 billion and NT$40 billion.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) told the committee that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications would study the management of the Postal Savings Fund before considering relaxing the regulations.
In related news, Chunghwa Post’s plan to work with the China-based third-party online platform Alipay.com (支付寶) to allow Chinese buyers to shop on its online shopping Web site, Post Mall, was questioned by the lawmakers on the committee, who said that the move would expose the Web site’s users to personal data security risks.
Chunghwa Post chairman Philip Ong (翁文祺) said the partnership with Alipay, which was established via Financial Information Service Co, would begin next month.
Several banks in Taiwan have also formed partnerships with Alipay, he said.
DPP Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said the postal company estimated that the transactions on Post Mall would generate NT$1.1 million in profit this year.
However, the online shopping Web site was hacked last year, information on about 17,000 transactions was stolen and 80 of the Web site’s customers received scam calls as a result, he said.
“I have yet to see the postal company take any proactive action to ensure data security for accessing Post Mall. The partnership with Alipay is likely to make the situation worse,” Huang said.
“You really have to ask if it is worth if for the postal company to pursue a profit of just NT$1 million while compromising data security,” the lawmaker said.
Chunghwa Post should propose strategies to tackle this issue, Huang said.
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