The government yesterday unveiled incentives for private banks in the hopes that they would join state-run lenders in bailing out business affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A deposit that banks are required to make to hedge against bad debts has been lowered from 1 percent to 0.5 percent of total accounts receivable when a bank issues a loan to a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) by tapping a NT$200 billion (US$6.64 million) fund provided by the central bank, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.
That would allow the nation’s banks to save approximately NT$1 billion on such deposits, he said.
Photo: CNA
The commission has also set aside NT$180 million, or 2 percent, of a deposit insurance reserve fund to reward banks that help their clients secure loans from the central bank fund, Koo said.
The top three banks in number of loans issued, total amount of loans issued and fastest service on loans would have their deposit insurance premiums reduced, he said.
The money allocated for the rewards would likely be divided into portions of NT$90 million each, which would be tapped when banks are required to pay premiums in the second half of this and next year, he added.
In addition, processing fees for workers and small firms would be waived when they request loans from banks or are required to undergo credit history checks with the Joint Credit Information Center or the Taiwan Clearing House, Koo said.
This would save applicants about NT$300, he said.
As applications for subsidized loans available to workers and SMEs would be accepted until Dec. 31, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) was asked whether the preferential interest rates that accompany the packages would be canceled once they end.
If the pandemic does not abate after a prolonged period, the central bank would be able to double the fund to be loaned to workers and SMEs, Yang said, adding that he believes that the SME Credit Guarantee Fund of Taiwan, which offers loans of up to NT$150 million for SMEs, would be able to up the ante as well.
As of Monday, the nation’s eight state-owned banks had received 5,406 requests for loans from businesses and individuals, of which 3,300 requests totaling NT$40.2 billion had been granted, Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS