Foreigners, regardless of their residential status, will be able to take secured loans from local financial institutions by the middle of next month at the earliest, the Bankers Association of the ROC (銀行公會) said yesterday.
Consensus
"After canvassing opinions from member banks on this issue, the association's board of directors will finalize the regulations for banks to follow in its monthly meeting next month," said Elton Li (李蔭棠), chief of the association's consulting services center, during a telephone interview.
Li made the comments after the central bank on Monday night announced that restrictions on lending to foreigners, including people without alien resident certificates and institutional investors, would be lifted to stimulate domestic investment and activate the capital market.
George Chou (
Among the US$130 billion in foreign capital currently invested in the local stock market, two-thirds comes from retirement and mutual funds, which are not allowed to take out loans from local banks. The other third, hailing from securities firms, hedge funds and private equity, would be potential clients for New Taiwan dollar financing, Chou said.
Wide-ranging
The central bank has also ordered credit cooperatives, fishermen and farmers' funds to follow suit, the statement said.
Tsai Hsian-chung (
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Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would