ShopeePay Taiwan Co (蝦皮支付) and Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) have been targeted by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) over information security and consumer protection, after lawmakers yesterday raised concerns about the e-commerce platform possibly being funded by Chinese investors.
ShopeePay and Cathay United recently partnered to issue cobranded credit cards, which reward consumers up to 4 percentage points for anything they spend on the platform.
The company’s collaboration with a local bank raised concerns over whether consumers’ data could be leaked to behind-the-scene Chinese investors, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
ShopeePay last year did not gain the Investment Commission’s approval to inject new capital of NT$450 million (US$15.42 million) because of issues surrounding possible Chinese capital, Kuo added.
To ensure national security, the FSC should consider creating a rule barring local banks from cooperating with a company that could be funded by Chinese capital, he said.
The commission would investigate the matter and ensure that consumers and their information is secure, FSC Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) told the meeting.
The Banking Act (銀行法) does not allow banks to share their clients’ information with other companies, Banking Bureau Director-General Sherri Chuang (莊琇媛) added.
The commission would not consider creating a new rule, as a regulator should not set a particular limit on a company just because it thinks that company has some problems, Huang said.
It would be helpful if critics presented evidence that ShoppeePay’s Chinese capital exceeds the legal limit, he added.
In related news, multiple lawmakers yesterday criticized the FSC for revising the legal limit on the average daily amount of money managed by third-party service providers from NT$1 billion to NT$2 billion, saying it was a move to help ShoppeePay circumvent regulations.
Since last year, ShopeePay assigned its affiliate Shopee Taiwan Co (樂購蝦皮) to manage fund flows as the average daily amount it dealt with had reached NT$3 billion, the lawmakers said, adding that the daily amount at Shopee Taiwan did not surpass NT$2 billion in the first quarter.
With the legal limit revised to NT$2 billion, Shopee Taiwan would not have to apply for an electronic payment license, they said.
Huang rejected the criticism, saying that the revision was for all third-party companies, whose businesses are growing.
ShopeePay said in a statement that its shareholding structure is transparent and meets local regulations, with its largest shareholders from Singapore and the US.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS