Credit card spending in April plunged 20 percent from a year earlier to NT$206.2 billion (US$6.91 billion), the steepest monthly drop in the past 11 years, as consumers continued cutting their spending amid the pandemic.
Financial Supervisory Commission data released on Thursday showed last month’s dip led to a decline of 7.44 percent in cumulative credit card spending for the first four months of the year to NT$925.3 billion, compared with NT$999.7 billion a year earlier, the commission’s data showed.
Credit card spending is not expected to rebound soon, as consumers would likely delay big purchases, given that the COVID-19 outbreak has not been fully controlled, commission officials told a news conference in New Taipei City.
However, the government’s Triple Stimulus Coupons plan, which enables Taiwanese and their foreign spouses to buy NT$3,000 in coupons for NT$1,000 as of July 1, might help boost consumption in the second half of this year, the commission said.
The latest data showed Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) retained its top position among 33 credit card issuers in the nation in April, with payments of NT$38.59 billion.
E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) was in second place with NT$30 billion, followed by CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行) with NT$29 billion.
As of the end of April, the number of valid credit cards in circulation was 32.13 million, the data showed.
By comparison, the electronic payments business dodged the hit by the pandemic and saw spending rise 15.17 percent annually to NT$3.72 billion, the data showed.
Spending gained 4 percent to NT$13.51 in the first four months, from NT$12.98 billion a year earlier, the data showed.
The commission attributed the steady growth in electronic payment spending to a low comparison base last year as well as more consumers using electronic payments for daily consumption such as food or beverages.
Jko Pay (街口支付), a service offered by Jko Fintech Co (街口金融科技), saw its number of users climb to 2.33 million, for the first time since October 2018 surpassing Line Pay Money, operated by Line Biz+ Taiwan Ltd (連加網路) and iPass Corp (一卡通票證), the data showed.
Jko Pay also ranked first in the amount of spending and in the size of transfers between accounts, NT$1.68 billion and NT$1 billion respectively, the data showed.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
AI BOOST: Next year, the cloud and networking product business is expected to remain a key revenue pillar for the company, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu said Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted its best third-quarter profit in the company’s history, backed by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Net profit expanded 17 percent annually to NT$57.67 billion (US$1.86 billion) from NT$44.36 billion, the company said. On a quarterly basis, net profit soared 30 percent from NT$44.36 billion, it said. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said earnings per share expanded to NT$4.15 from NT$3.55 a year earlier and NT$3.19 in the second quarter. Gross margin improved to 6.35 percent,
RSS