Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (渣打國際商業銀行) yesterday announced that it has partnered with PChome Online Inc (網路家庭) to offer loans to the e-commerce platform’s about 10,000 suppliers to meet their financial needs.
The collaboration came as a surprise in light of PChome’s cooperation with Citibank Taiwan Ltd (花旗台灣) and E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) in issuing co-branded credit cards.
Standard Chartered said that it is not planning to launch a credit card with PChome, as the local credit card market is already intensely competitive, but would rather focus on lending to e-commerce retailers.
Photo: CNA
E-commerce retailers are usually overlooked, as banks prefer their brick-and-mortar counterparts, which have tangible assets, Standard Chartered said.
As such, e-commerce retailers’ financial needs are usually not met, it added.
A survey showed that 62 percent of PChome’s suppliers said that they need more working capital as sales have boomed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
While 69 percent of respondents said they rely on banks for funding, they said the application process is cumbersome, including having to wait at bank offices, the survey showed.
Standard Chartered said that is why its loan program is an online service: Suppliers can file their applications online, but would need to stamp their company seals on paper in line with regulations.
The bank would dispatch a delivery person to pick up the documents, so applicants need not visit its office, it said.
Standard Chartered said it would be able to offer a revolving credit limit that is more accurate than banks’ traditional offerings, as it would be able to access PChome’s database to check the supplier’s operating performance.
The higher a supplier’s sales are, the higher would be its loan quota, it said, adding that the bank would not access clients’ data unless they apply for a loan.
The process utilizes big data analysis, artificial intelligence and application programming interface, as well as data connection among Standard Chartered Bank, PChome and the Joint Credit Information Center (金融聯合徵信中心), it said.
The lending program would be the first in the nation dedicated to e-commerce retailers, it said.
“This service would not only meet the funding demands of small and medium-sized retailers, but it would also help control credit risks. It is essential for us to build a digital financial ecosystem in Taiwan,” Standard Chartered Taiwan CEO Ian Anderson told reporters.
A preliminary evaluation showed that among all of PChome’s suppliers, 10,000 would be eligible to participate in the program, and the bank expects about 20 percent of them to apply for loans by the end of this year.
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