EMQ Taiwan (易安聯) and Welldone Co (統振) can extend their remittance services for migrant workers from April 30 to Oct 29, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Thursday.
The firms, which were permitted to conduct the experiment as part of the commission’s regulatory sandbox, began their remittance services in May last year.
Their experiments allow workers from Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia to send money home and without having to pay the high fees conventional banks charge for remittance services.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Their services enable the workers to send money home from convenience stores, with handling fees ranging from NT$100 to NT$250, compared with fees of NT$600 to NT$1,000 charged by banks, Department of Planning Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) said.
“Their services were not popular among migrant workers in the beginning, as the number of users hovered in the tens and hundreds, and the overall amount of remittance only stood at a few million New Taiwan dollars per month,” Lin said.
“However, their services have become more popular since the second half of last year, and the number of users has risen to tens of thousands and the overall amount of remittances surpassed NT$100 million [US$3.34 million] in March,” he said.
Commission data showed that some workers remit money every two months to save on handling fees, while those from Indonesia and the Philippines send more money than their peers from Vietnam and Thailand, Lin said.
The commission has monitored the experiment to see if any loopholes for money laundering had been discovered, but it has not seen such activities so far, he said.
It last month approved Welldone’s application to raise the limit on remittances, from NT$70,000 per month and NT$360,000 per year to NT$100,000 and NT$500,000 respectively, Lin said.
The new limits are also available for EMQ Taiwan, he added.
If a proposed amendment to the Act Governing Electronic Payment Institutions (電子支付機構管理條例) is passed by lawmakers, companies not engaged in electronic payment services would be allowed to offer remittance services if they can gain a limited license, Lin said.
Meanwhile, Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), the state-run lending arm of Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), has won FSC approval to set up a sub-branch in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, allowing it to deepen its reach into Southeast Asia.
The commission gave its go-ahead on Tuesday, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mega Bank entered the Cambodian market eight years ago and has been impressed by the nation’s fast-growing economy and relative political stability, the statement said.
The new sub-branch would help advance the government’s New Southbound Policy, it said, adding that it is eyeing expansion in Indonesia and Myanmar.
Japanese supermarket operator Aeon Co is to build a mall in Phnom Penh, where several Taiwanese companies have a presence, and more are likely to follow suit, creating opportunities for the new sub-branch, Mega Bank said.
The new outlet would be its fourth in Cambodia, it added.
It has operations in Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar and Singapore, and it has set aside NT$100 billion (US$3.34 billion) to meet the cash needs of corporate clients in Southeast Asia, it said.
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