PANDEMIC EFFECT:\u00a0Most people preferred accounts with low transfer limits, as they use them for smaller online payments, a senior Banking Bureau official said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number of digital savings accounts at Taiwanese banks totaled 8.32 million at the end of last month, up 70 percent from a year earlier, as more people used digital accounts to pay bills online amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Financial Supervisory Commission data showed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was the business ecosystem effect,\u201d Banking Bureau Chief Secretary Phil Tong (\u7ae5\u653f\u5f70) told a videoconference in New Taipei City. \u201cAs more stores collaborated with banks and offered special rewards for their clients, people were more interested in opening digital accounts to get the benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also a sudden increase in spending on e-commerce and food delivery services during the pandemic, Tong said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commission classifies digital savings accounts in three categories according to the method of identification used to open the account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first category comprises accounts using Citizen Digital Certificates-based identification, the second comprises accounts held by people who already held another account with the bank and the third is based on identification by credit card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first and second categories have a limit of NT$50,000 per transfer and NT$100,000 on transfers per day, while the third category allows single transfers of up to NT$10,000 and transfers of up to NT$30,000 per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commission data showed that 3.33 million people held accounts in the third category, up 77.5 percent from a year earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number of people holding accounts in the second category expanded 75 percent to 2.91 million and the number of those holding accounts in the first category grew 50 percent to 2.07 million, the data showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite lower limits on transfers, the third type of account was the most popular, as most account holders use it for small payments, Tong said, asking that the limit might be raised in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the nation\u2019s banks, Taishin International Bank\u2019s (\u53f0\u65b0\u9280\u884c) Richart online service had the most accounts, with 2.59 million, followed by Cathay United Bank (\u570b\u6cf0\u4e16\u83ef\u9280\u884c) with 1.27 million accounts, Bank SinoPac (\u6c38\u8c50\u9280\u884c) with 894,000 accounts, First Commercial Bank (\u7b2c\u4e00\u9280\u884c) with 647,000 and O-Bank (\u738b\u9053\u5546\u696d\u9280\u884c) with 462,000, commission data showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n