The Financial Supervisor Commission (FSC) is planning to relax regulations on Web-based consumer lending at banks, as the government seeks to create a comprehensive digital banking environment, the commission said yesterday.
Current regulations allow online loan applications, but require banks to adopt stricter identity authentication standards for Web-based applications than for those who apply at a physical branch, the commission said.
The requirements include identification via videoconference or the use of encrypted digital tokens, the commission said.
The new rules would allow banks to use biometric authentication technology, heeding banks’ years-long calls for eased rules, Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) told a videoconference in New Taipei City.
Sanctioned biometric authentication methods would be based on a person’s unique physical traits such as fingerprints, facial features or a retina, and people would have to identify themselves using these features when visiting a physical branch, Lin said.
Authentication would also include questions about regular account activity, including transfers or transactions, Lin said.
The new rules would only apply to consumers who already have a digital savings account at the bank with authentication through a credit card or another bank account, Lin said, adding that at the end of June, 3.3 million people had eligible digital savings accounts.
This type of account is most common at the nation’s two Web-only banks, Rakuten International Commercial Bank Co (樂天國際商銀) and Line Bank Taiwan Ltd (連線商業銀行), Lin said.
The accounts have a limit on individual transfers of NT$10,000, while the daily transfer amount is capped at NT$30,000, the commission 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