The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said that its employees and those working under 16 peripheral organizations would benefit from the government’s plan to increase public-sector salaries by 3 percent.
The hike that is expected to be implemented on Jan. 1 next year would boost morale and competitiveness, and stimulate consumption, leading to higher economic growth momentum, the commission said.
Salaries at the commission and its peripheral organizations have not seen raises in the past seven years, it said.
The 16 organizations — which govern the nation’s equities and futures markets, industry funds, and investor protection agencies — employ 2,000 to 3,000 people, it said.
Separately, the FSC yesterday urged the public to be wary of taking on excessive personal debt as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms increasingly emerge on the market.
The commission said it is aware that new P2P lending platforms have been targeting students, leading to concerns about loan delinquency-related social issues as they are often not employed full time.
Some P2P platforms have also been advertising interest-free installment payment plans and no-money down purchases on e-commerce outlets, the commission said, urging people to read the fine print.
As these firms are registered as technology companies and the loans are made between individuals, they do not fall under the commission’s jurisdiction, Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Sherri Chuang (莊琇媛) said.
Under the Civil Code (民法), contracts made with people who have limited capacity to take legal action, such as minors, might not be enforced without the approval of the person’s guardian, she said.
Meanwhile, the commission reiterated its wish to encourage collaboration between P2P lending platforms and banks, saying that lenders — including CTBC Bank Co (中國信託銀行), KGI Bank (凱基銀行) and Standard Chartered PLC — have expressed interest in forming partnerships to help process transactions, data flow and credit score information, Chuang said.
Concurrently, the Bankers’ Association of the ROC (銀行公會) is drawing up self-regulatory guidelines for P2P lending, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, Chuang said.
Her remarks came after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) yesterday at a news conference called on the commission to tidy up P2P lending platforms as bad debt, fraud and loan sharks become more prevalent.
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