Starting in May, migrant workers will be able to remit money to their home countries at convenience stores, with the handling fee set at NT$150 to NT$300, down from the NT$400 charged by banks, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
The commission formally approved the second experiment in the nations’s “regulatory sandbox” after giving its preliminary approval in December last year, Department of Planning Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) said.
EMQ Taiwan (易安聯) and Welldone Co (統振) will begin their remittance programs in May at the latest, with the commission monitoring the service during a one-year test period to prevent money laundering, Lin said.
EMQ Taiwan is to provide the service to workers from Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia, while Welldone will handle remittances to Thailand as well as the other three, he said.
Both firms are to offer the service in cooperation with convenience store operators including President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), Hi-Life International Co (萊爾富) and OK Mart Co (來來超商), the commission said.
EMQ Taiwan has teamed up with Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank Ltd (SCSB, 上海商業儲蓄銀行) to allow workers to remit funds using the lender’s ATMs and online banking service, the commission said.
Welldone will also offer the service through its four local branches, it added.
Remittances are to be limited to NT$30,000 (US$976) per transfer, the two companies said.
Each person can remit up to NT$70,000 per day, NT$100,000 per month and NT$500,000 per year, EMQ Taiwan said.
Welldone is more conservative, limiting remittances to NT$70,000 per month and NT$360,000 per year.
As the two companies already have operations in the target countries, they can charge lower fees than local banks, which need support from overseas clearing banks, Lin said.
“We hope this experiment could serve as a stimulus, encouraging local banks to improve their services and reduce their fees,” Lin said.
Given that there were 700,000 migrant workers in Taiwan as of the end of last year, the commission estimated that the new system could reduce handling fees by NT$70 million to NT$175 million, Lin said.
Citing UNESCO statistics, Lin said that global migrant workers on average pay a handling fee of 7 percent of the remittance amount.
At least US$1 billion could be saved if institutions were to reduce their fees, he said.
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