Nearly 300 financial companies plan to spend NT$3.032 billion (US$101.3 million) subsidizing domestic trips for employees from this month to the end of the year to help boost the economy, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
The 287 companies include 36 banks, 41 insurance companies, 68 securities brokerages, 39 securities investment trust firms, 84 securities investment consulting companies, 15 futures traders and four accounting firms, FSC Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) said.
Banks plan to spend NT$1.36 billion, the highest among all industries, followed by insurers with NT$1.35 billion, securities companies with NT$185 million and accounting firms with NT$67 million, the commission said.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
A total of 600,000 employees are expected to benefit from the subsidies, Huang said.
Many firms had planned to organize overseas trips for their employees, or hold conferences and employee training courses abroad, Huang said.
In light of the nation’s stable epidemic situation compared with other countries, they have decided to hold these events domestically, he said.
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) yesterday said it would spend NT$700 million on domestic travel and training programs for its 58,000 employees.
The company’s insurance unit, Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), plans to spend NT$220 million on similar endeavors, it added.
Lin Yuan Group (霖園集團) — which owns Cathay Financial Holdings Co (國泰金控), Cathay Real Estate Co (國泰建設) and Cathay General Hospital (國泰綜合醫院) — last month announced that it would spend NT$440 million to subsidize domestic trips and other events for its 50,000 employees.
Meanwhile, a survey released yesterday by MasterCard showed that 45 percent of respondents are willing to travel locally within three months after the government eases restrictions on social distancing, while more than 50 percent would spend between NT$5,000 and NT$8,000 on domestic trips.
The survey indicated that most respondents are conservative about taking trips abroad as border controls remain in place in many countries.
For those who are willing to travel overseas, up to 70 percent said they would prioritize countries where virus infections have slowed down, the survey said.
In other news, the FSC yesterday said that 22 life insurance companies have trimmed their interest rates on policy loans by 50 basis points for the next six months.
The move is aimed at easing the financial burden on people affected by the virus, such as medical staff, COVID-19 patients or furloughed workers, Huang said.
The policy loans offered by life insurers totaled NT$614.7 billion at the end of April, and the rate cuts would lead to a NT$1.5 billion dip in insurers’ interest income this year, the commission said.
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