Rakuten International Commercial Bank Co (樂天國際商銀) earlier this month applied with the Financial Supervisory Commission for an operating license, leading two other Web-only banks, the commission said yesterday.
The bank, which is 51 percent owned by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten Inc and 49 percent by IBF Financial Holdings Co (國票金控), completed its one-month operation simulation test before submitting the application, Banking Bureau Chief Secretary Phil Tong (童政彰) told a news conference in New Taipei City.
The commission is reviewing the simulation record, one of the materials it uses to determine whether to grant a license, Tong said.
The commission has yet to receive applications from the two other Web-only banks — Next Bank (將來銀行) and Line Bank (連線商業銀行), Tong said, adding that it expects all three virtual banks to launch their operations by the end of this year.
“If everything goes smoothly, Rakuten International Commercial Bank would be able to begin operating at the start of October,” bank chairman Chien Ming-jen (簡明仁) told an investors’ conference in Taipei yesterday.
It might even be the first among the three to launch services in the nation, he said.
The bank completed its corporate registration in May, after the commission gave it permission to establish the bank in July last year.
For the first year after launch, the bank is expected to focus on personal deposits and loans, mortgages and corporate financing, while capital expenditure would mainly be used to build up its system and on recruitment, Chien said.
Separately, IBF Financial reported that its net profit rose 10.13 percent to NT$1.49 billion (US$50.35 million) in the first half of the year.
The company attributed the increase to a 7 percent profit gain at its bills finance unit International Bills Finance Corp (IBFC, 國際票券) to NT$1.3 billion and a 4.59 percent gain at its securities arm IBF Securities Co (國票證券) to NT$387 million.
IBFC — which acts as a broker and dealer of short-term bills, certifier, underwriter and guarantor of commercial paper — would concentrate on green financing to gain new momentum.
Its lending surged 253 percent year-on-year to NT$12.24 billion during the first six months of this year, IBFC said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last