Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行), the flagship retail banking arm of Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), is to introduce a co-branded credit card with warehouse club Costco Wholesale Taiwan Ltd (台灣好市多) on Feb. 1.
A media invitation for this event this week confirmed that Taipei Fubon Bank has taken over rival Cathay United Bank’s (國泰世華銀行) deal to partner with Costco on a co-branded credit card.
Cathay United Bank, the banking arm of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), announced in November last year that it would end a decade-long credit card partnership with Costco on Aug. 7 this year amid speculation that Taipei Fubon Bank had spent NT$1.2 billion (US$39.52 million) to snatch the co-branding rights from Cathay United Bank.
Photo: Wu Hsin-tien, Taipei Times
Taipei Fubon Bank had not commented on the speculation until recently, when it said it would provide attractive privileges to cardholders to make the new co- branded credit cards a “must have” for consumers.
Costco only accepts co-branded credit cards for non-cash payments in its stores.
There are currently 2.7 million holders of Cathay United Bank’s Costco co-branded credit cards, but after the bank’s partnership with Costco ends on Aug. 7, those cardholders will no longer be able to use their cards to buy goods at Costco’s 14 stores in Taiwan.
People who get Taipei Fubon Bank’s co-branded credit card with Costco will not be able to use it at Costco outlets before Aug. 7, but will be able to use it like any other credit card to make purchases elsewhere.
Cathay United Bank is the second-largest credit card issuer in Taiwan, having issued 7.89 million credit cards as of September last year, behind CTBC Bank (中信銀行), a unit of CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), with 8.33 million, analysts said.
Cathay United Bank, however, has 5.57 million active credit cards, defined as cards used to make purchases within the past six months, 387,192 more than CTBC Bank, analysts said.
In 2013, Cathay United Bank took over the co-branded credit card agreement with Costco from CTBC Bank.
Once Taipei Fubon Bank takes over the co-branded credit card deal with Costco, it should see its active credit cards grow to 5.64 million, topping Cathay United Bank.
It will also move up two notches to become the third-largest credit card issuer in Taiwan, with the number of credit cards issued increasing from about 4.8 million at present, according to analysts.
According to Cathay United Bank, holders of its Costco co-branded credit card will be given the chance to transfer those cards to the soon-to-be-launched CUBE credit card program.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
RSS