The government yesterday unveiled incentives for private banks in the hopes that they would join state-run lenders in bailing out business affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A deposit that banks are required to make to hedge against bad debts has been lowered from 1 percent to 0.5 percent of total accounts receivable when a bank issues a loan to a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) by tapping a NT$200 billion (US$6.64 million) fund provided by the central bank, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.
That would allow the nation’s banks to save approximately NT$1 billion on such deposits, he said.
Photo: CNA
The commission has also set aside NT$180 million, or 2 percent, of a deposit insurance reserve fund to reward banks that help their clients secure loans from the central bank fund, Koo said.
The top three banks in number of loans issued, total amount of loans issued and fastest service on loans would have their deposit insurance premiums reduced, he said.
The money allocated for the rewards would likely be divided into portions of NT$90 million each, which would be tapped when banks are required to pay premiums in the second half of this and next year, he added.
In addition, processing fees for workers and small firms would be waived when they request loans from banks or are required to undergo credit history checks with the Joint Credit Information Center or the Taiwan Clearing House, Koo said.
This would save applicants about NT$300, he said.
As applications for subsidized loans available to workers and SMEs would be accepted until Dec. 31, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) was asked whether the preferential interest rates that accompany the packages would be canceled once they end.
If the pandemic does not abate after a prolonged period, the central bank would be able to double the fund to be loaned to workers and SMEs, Yang said, adding that he believes that the SME Credit Guarantee Fund of Taiwan, which offers loans of up to NT$150 million for SMEs, would be able to up the ante as well.
As of Monday, the nation’s eight state-owned banks had received 5,406 requests for loans from businesses and individuals, of which 3,300 requests totaling NT$40.2 billion had been granted, Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS