Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) yesterday warned of possible disruptions and risks as the nation heads toward greater digitization of financial services, but said the government was committed to the move.
While the government is open to introducing new practices — such as Web-based banks, person-to-person lending and increased use of mobile devices as payment channels — it is concerned about the potential impacts of the changes on the industry, Tseng said on the sidelines of a Taipei forum.
The digitization of financial services, commonly referred to as Bank 3.0, is the transition away from the dependence on physical bank branches to online and mobile channels. Experts say the shift brings both opportunities and threats to the banking sector.
Traditional financial institutions, for instance, are facing immense challenges as lending takes place between individuals on a peer-to-peer (P2P) basis, Tseng said.
P2P lending allows for the democratization of personal finance, but the commission is concerned about its possible risks, he said.
Such financing has exponentially expanded the number of participants in such schemes, and the public must be aware of the risks of conducting transactions with strangers instead of with people they know, Tseng said.
The commission has been promoting Bank 3.0 since late last year by deregulating online banking, mobile payment and third party payments, but numerous disputes since then have left it cautious about whether and when sweeping changes can be put into effect, he said.
The emergence of online banks may jeopardize the livelihood of the 160,000 employees of conventional bank branches, Tseng said.
“There is still an abundance of conventional banks in Taiwan,” he said.
Nevertheless, the government and the banking sector remain committed to facing the challenges of Bank 3.0, Tseng said.
The commission will accelerate legal amendments and push for appropriate deregulatory measures, while financial companies have been advised to step up information technology investments and prepare their employees to take on new roles, he said.
Chris Skinner, a blogger and independent commentator who was the forum’s keynote speaker, said in his speech that P2P lending and payments schemes make the most difference in developing economies such as African countries, where access to financial services are limited.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS