The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said that it has told six local banks to quickly return a total of NT$6.98 million (US$231,932) to their credit card clients for interest rate overcharges on revolving credit.
“It seems that the six banks have a problematic calculating system, and we have requested them to improve their systems,” Koo said during a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee in Taipei.
He did not name the banks, although Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) urged him to do so, telling lawmakers only that several were privately owned banks.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said the banks should be penalized by the commission for taking advantage of their clients.
Koo’s comments came after a report from the commission’s Inspection Bureau on Monday said that routine inspections last year found that some banks have been overcharging customers by rounding up their interest rate fees to the nearest integer, instead of rounding them off as stipulated in their credit-card contracts.
Banks are also required to calculate the interest based on each cardholders’ payment deadline, instead of the account closing date, but some have failed to do so and overcharged, the report said.
The six banks would be asked to assign a non-credit card division — such as compliance or information technology division — to set up a new mechanism to confirm that their credit card divisions are doing the calculation correctly, a commission official told the Taipei Times by telephone.
However, cardholders should also pay attention to their bills and calculate the interests themselves to see if they are being charged the correct amount, the official said.
“We still encourage consumers to use credit cards as a payment tool instead of a way to take out a loan, to avoid a heavy financial burden,” the official added.
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
WAIT-AND-SEE: Last month’s consumer price index came in at 2.8%, which boosts expectations that the Fed would proceed cautiously to lower inflation sustainably The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting this week, treading carefully amid uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s economic policies, which include spending cuts and sweeping tariffs. Since January, Trump has imposed levies on major trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, and on steel and aluminum imports, roiling financial markets and fanning fears that his plans could tip the world’s biggest economy into a recession. The Trump administration has also embarked on unprecedented cost-cutting efforts that target staff and spending, while the US president has promised tax reductions and deregulation down the road. However,
RSS