Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), the largest lender in the country, is to raise the benchmark one-year time savings deposit rate to a 15-year-high 1.715 percent from tomorrow following a surprise central bank rate hike.
The increase reflected a 12.5 basis-point key interest rate increase instituted by the central bank on Friday, Bank of Taiwan said.
The state-owned lender is also to raise its two-year time savings deposit rate and three-year time savings deposit rate by 0.125 percentage points to 1.750 percent and 1.785 percent respectively.
Photo: Lu Kuan-cheng, Taipei Times
Under the new rates, one-year time savings depositors who have NT$1 million (US$31,291) in their accounts would receive more than NT$17,280 in annual interest payments, up from NT$16,020, based on compound-rate calculations, Bank of Taiwan said.
On Thursday, the central bank said it would raise key interest rates the next day in light of higher Taiwan Power Co (台電) electricity rates effective from April 1.
After the central bank’s latest rate hike, Taiwan’s benchmark discount rate has increased to 2 percent.
The central bank said it has revised consumer price index growth to 2.16 percent for this year, above the 2 percent alert level it set as well as an earlier 1.89 percent forecast in December last year, prompting it to raise rates for the first time since March 2022.
The central bank’s decision came as a surprise after the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged.
With the changes, Taiwan’s rate on accommodations with collateral has risen to 2.375 percent, while accommodations without collateral increased to 4.25 percent, the central bank said.
From March 2022 to March last year, the central bank raised interest rates 75 basis points, which led Bank of Taiwan’s one-year time savings deposit rate to increase to 1.59 percent from 0.84 percent.
Bank of Taiwan had also increased interest payments on deposits of NT$1 million to almost NT$16,020 from about NT$8,340 a year, based on compound rate calculations, during the same period.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
DETERRENCE EFFORTS: Washington and partners hope demonstrations of force would convince Beijing that military action against Taiwan would carry high costs The US is considering using HMAS Stirling in Western Australia as a forward base to strengthen its naval posture in a potential conflict with China, particularly over Taiwan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. As part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, Washington plans to deploy up to four nuclear-powered submarines at Stirling starting in 2027, providing a base near potential hot spots such as Taiwan and the South China Sea. The move also aims to enhance military integration with Pacific allies under the Australia-UK-US trilateral security partnership, the report said. Currently, US submarines operate from Guam, but the island could
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday released the first video documenting the submerged sea trials of Taiwan’s indigenous defense submarine prototype, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, showing underwater navigation and the launch of countermeasures. The footage shows the vessel’s first dive, steering and control system tests, and the raising and lowering of the periscope and antenna masts. It offered a rare look at the progress in the submarine’s sea acceptance tests. The Hai Kun carried out its first shallow-water diving trial late last month and has since completed four submerged tests, CSBC said. The newly released video compiles images recorded from Jan. 29 to
RSS