The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) would soon approve three financial technology (fintech) sandbox experiments involving insurance sales, blockchain technology and fund management, FSC Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
The commission would allow ezTravel Co (易遊網) to sell travel insurance policies provided by Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) on its Web site, exempting it from regulations on selling insurance, Koo said.
People can only purchase policies online from insurers’ Web sites, but in the experiment, they would be able to choose policies and pay the premiums directly to EzTravel, Koo said.
However, EzTravel cannot spend the premiums freely and must deposit them in a dedicated bank account and transfer them to Cathay Life on a regular basis, he said.
EzTravel would not be allowed to sell other kinds of insurance, he added.
If the experiment makes it more convenient for people to purchase travel insurance online, the commission would amend regulations to allow more institutions to cooperate with insurers, Koo said.
Second, the FSC would allow Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) and Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) to use blockchain technology in their domestic fund transfer and payment services, and to address information flows, Koo said.
As domestic fund transfer and payment services are already fast and convenient, they are not expected to be any faster in the experiment, but the banks could check if the blockchain technology is viable, Department of Planning Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Only clients of the two banks can take part in the experiment, Lin said.
If the technology is proven to be reliable, the commission might allow the banks to adopt the technology in their remittance service, he said.
Remittances, which usually take a few days if conducted through banks, are expected to be faster with the help of blockchain technology, Lin added.
Third, the commission said it would allow How-Investech Inc (好好投資科技), a financial technology company, to partner with Far Eastern International Bank (遠東商銀) to provide new fund management services, Koo said.
Customers who have purchased fund products offered by the bank would be able to exchange their products with those of other customers without paying redemption fees, Koo said, adding that the company would also use blockchain technology in the experiment.
The commission has approved the applications for the experiments and would make an official announcement soon, including the number of participants and the amount of exposure, Koo said.
TRADE WAR: Tariffs should also apply to any goods that pass through the new Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, an adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump said A veteran adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump is proposing that the 60 percent tariffs that Trump vowed to impose on Chinese goods also apply to goods from any country that pass through a new port that Beijing has built in Peru. The duties should apply to goods from China or countries in South America that pass through the new deep-water port Chancay, a town 60km north of Lima, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the Trump transition team who served as senior director for the western hemisphere on the White House National Security Council in his first administration. “Any product going
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion
High above the sparkling surface of the Athens coastline, the cranes for building the 50-floor luxury tower centerpiece of Greece’s future “smart city” look out over the Saronic Gulf. At their feet, construction machinery stirs up dust. Its backers say the 8 billion euro (US$8.43 billion) project financed by private funds is a symbol of Greece’s renaissance after the years of financial stagnation that saw investors flee the country. However, critics see it more as a future “ghetto for the rich.” It is hard to imagine that 10km from the Acropolis, a new city “three times the size of Monaco”
STRATEGIC MATERIALS: Taiwan’s advanced chips and tech help the US ‘stay ahead of China in technology competitions,’ central bank Governor Yang Chin-long said The incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump is unlikely to impose stiff tariffs on Taiwan’s advanced chips as well as information and communications technology (ICT) products, because they are special and strategic materials the US needs, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said yesterday. “Trump’s trade policies may affect Taiwan’s economy and financial markets through multiple channels... We need to be careful in dealing with monetary policy and foreign exchange,” Yang said at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei. After Trump’s return to the White House in January next year, it might become normal for Taiwan to be
RSS