Rakuten International Commercial Bank (樂天國際商銀) plans to launch a pilot for its Web-only operations by the end of next month, company chairman Chien Ming-jen (簡明仁) said on Monday.
Initially, the bank plans to provide services to its 100 employees, as well as 3,500 staff at its shareholders IBF Financial Holdings Co (國票金控) and Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc’s local unit, Chien said.
In the first phase, the bank would focus on its information systems, he said, without revealing when formal operations would begin.
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
“We will have a killer business strategy and we will not initiate a price war, which the Financial Supervisory Commission [FSC] has urged us to avoid,” Chien told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony in Taipei, at which Rakuten Bank signed a deal with Central Deposit Insurance Corp (中央存保) to become its 400th insured entity and the first that is a Web-only bank.
Rakuten Bank received an operating license from the commission earlier this month, ahead of two peers, Next Bank (將來銀行) and Line Bank (連線商業銀行).
Traditional banks must have been operating for at least six months before applying to join Central Deposit Insurance, but the FSC has asked Web-only banks to immediately apply upon obtaining an operating license, as they are to offer 24-hour services, meaning that consumers need greater protection, Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) said.
The corporation would ask virtual banks to upload their data via application programming interface (API) solutions to save time and reduce human error, and if the new approach works, it would consider adopting more API suitors, Central Deposit Insurance chairman Michael Lin (林銘寬) said.
In related news, Lin Chih-chi said that operating licenses for Next Bank and Line Bank might be delayed.
Next Bank has not delivered an improvement plan after the commission found problems during a recent on-site inspection, he said.
The commission would speak with Line Bank, as its affiliate messaging app Line Corp this month launched a service that enabled the bank to collect consumers’ data even though Line Bank has not received an operating license, he said.
The commission would take the issue into account when reviewing the bank’s application, FSC Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) said this month.
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