Credit card spending last month soared 21 percent year-on-year to NT$289 billion (US$9.4 billion), the highest for April, thanks to recovering spending on retail goods, dining and overseas travel, data released on Monday by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) showed.
Cumulative credit card spending totaled NT$1.22 trillion in the first four months of the year, up 19 percent from NT$1.02 trillion a year earlier, commission data showed.
Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) led all banks in terms of credit card spending, rising 30 percent annually to NT$49.98 billion after overseas spending surged 140 percent, while domestic spending on dining and at department stores increased 60 and 50 percent respectively, the bank said.
Photo: Chen Wen-cheng, Taipei Times
Cathay United last year announced it would end its cobranded credit card partnership with Costco Wholesale Taiwan Ltd (台灣好市多) and also introduced the CUBE card.
It said that the number of CUBE cards it has issued rose to 5 million last month.
Spending with the CUBE card totaled NT$70 million in the first quarter and made up 40 percent of the bank’s total credit card spending during the period, indicating its strong appeal, it said.
CTBC Bank (中信銀行) ranked second with credit card spending of NT$47.8 billion last month, up 28 percent year-on-year, which the bank attributed to a 240 percent increase in travel spending.
The bank said its cardholders’ overseas spending rose 65 percent, while spending on dining, transportation and luxury goods all gained more than 30 percent.
Cumulative credit card spending rose 26 percent annually to NT$201.3 billion for the first four months, which it said was due to the ongoing expansion of its customer base and growing payment channels.
Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) ranked first among banks in terms of the number of newly issued cards, FSC data showed.
The bank gave out 260,000 new cards last month, including its new cobranded card with Costco, while CTBC followed with 97,300 new cards.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
A start-up in Mexico is trying to help get a handle on one coastal city’s plastic waste problem by converting it into gasoline, diesel and other fuels. With less than 10 percent of the world’s plastics being recycled, Petgas’ idea is that rather than letting discarded plastic become waste, it can become productive again as fuel. Petgas developed a machine in the port city of Boca del Rio that uses pyrolysis, a thermodynamic process that heats plastics in the absence of oxygen, breaking it down to produce gasoline, diesel, kerosene, paraffin and coke. Petgas chief technology officer Carlos Parraguirre Diaz said that in
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
SUBSIDIES: The nominee for commerce secretary indicated the Trump administration wants to put its stamp on the plan, but not unravel it entirely US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of a US$52 billion semiconductor subsidy program declined to give it unqualified support, raising questions about the disbursement of funds to companies like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). “I can’t say that I can honor something I haven’t read,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said of the binding CHIPS and Science Act awards in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “To the extent monies have been disbursed, I would commit to rigorously enforcing documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get
RSS