Local companies owned by fewer than three individuals can apply for digital savings accounts and online loans, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
Previously, only sole proprietorships — companies owned by a single individual — could apply for digital savings accounts and loans online, as their shareholding structure is simple and banks can easily conduct know-your-customer reviews.
The number of sole proprietorships last year totaled 808,840, accounting for 52 percent of all local small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, Banking Bureau Chief Secretary Phil Tong (童政彰) told a videoconference, citing Ministry of Economic Affairs data.
To open a digital savings account, a company can verify its owners’ identities to a bank by using Citizen Digital Certificates and videoconferencing software, Tong said.
Yesterday, the commission also raised the fund transfer limit on the third category of digital savings accounts, the most popular of three types, Tong said.
The third category allows single transfers of up to NT$10,000 and up to NT$30,000 per day, but those limits can be raised to NT$50,000 and NT$100,000 respectively if the account holder agrees to have their identity verified via videoconferencing by the bank that manages the account, Tong said, adding that the third category’s higher transfer limits would be the same as for the second category.
The number of people with digital savings accounts totaled 9.43 million at the end of September, up 63 percent from a year earlier, commission data showed.
The spike resulted from 1.8 million people opening the third category of accounts, taking their total to 4.03 million, while the number of those with the first category of accounts rose by 707,000 to 2.26 million and the number of those with the second category of accounts rose by 1.16 million to 3.13 million, data showed.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
RSS