E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) and Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) on Tuesday said that they would make all of their branches bilingual by 2026, with their employees proficient in English.
E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) wholly owns E.Sun Bank, which has 139 branches in Taiwan, while Hua Nan Financial Holding Co (華南金控) owns Hua Nan Bank, which has 186 branches.
Since last year, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has been pushing local banks to become bilingual in a bid to boost the competitiveness of the banking sector.
Photo: CNA
The commission has said that 15 banks in Taiwan have made 69 branches bilingual.
E.Sun Financial president Magi Chen (陳美滿) said that the bank so far has 17 bilingual branches.
One of its bilingual branches is in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營), close to the Taiwan High Speed Rail’s Zuoying Station, an area with a major department store and an American school, Chen said, adding that the branch has recorded a bank record for the number of foreign-exchange transactions and new accounts opened by foreign clients.
Next year, E.Sun Bank is to model 13 more branches on the Zuoying branch to achieve its 2026 goal, Chen said.
E.Sun Bank said that with 28 outlets in nine foreign markets, it has 2,663 employees who possess foreign-language proficiency certificates.
Hua Nan Bank, which has 11 bilingual branches in Taiwan, expects to increase that number to 100 over the next two years to reach its 2026 goal, Hua Nan Financial chairman Derek Chang (張雲鵬) said.
Hua Nan Bank has also installed the first artificial intelligence clerk in Taiwan, which can communicate in English with foreign clients, Chang said, adding that it can also provide services outside business hours.
Hua Nan Bank is forming a bilingual seed team that can train employees in central, southern and eastern Taiwan so that they are better positioned in a competitive market, Chang said.
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