The ministry of justice yesterday said it planned to propose capping rates on credit card loans at 8 percentage points above the average savings rate – a step that would lower rates from 20 per cent at present to about 12 per cent.
Consumer lending operations at many Taiwanese banks have slipped into the red during the past few months after some placed rapid expansion above risk management in a fight for market share.
The largest lenders in the sector, Taishin Bank and Chinatrust Bank, wrote off 27 per cent and 15 per cent respectively of their card loans in January.
The ministry is not guaranteed to win the approval of the cabinet and the legislature for the proposed amendments. But the proposals indicate that the government is starting to lean towards the type of intervention that has been strongly advocated by lawmakers, as public pressure mounts for the government to rescue defaulting debtors.
Banks and financial experts are fiercely opposed to the idea.
Lin Chung-cheng, a commissioner at the Financial Supervisory Commission, Taiwan’s financial regulator, said that, if implemented, the proposed interest rate cap would force banks to retreat from unsecured consumer lending and drive 1.5m borrowers into the arms of loan sharks.
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The FSC estimates the number of heavily indebted consumers in Taiwan at 500,000, with an average debt burden of T$500,000 (US$15,400, €12,900, £8,900) each.
Nobody is benefiting from the current situation -- banks aren't making money, and consumers are deeply in debt. And the issue has now become a political football. At the pan-Blue rally on Sunday, one consumer complaint was the credit card situation.
[Taiwan]
2 comments:
Those numbers of average debt seem huge, but I can confirm from some bank consulting they are about right. However, I wouldn't say everyone is losing out, rather, for most Taiwan banks, the credit cards (and the much more lucrative cash cards--think George&Marry) are one of the only sources of profit. The bad loan numbers are a bit of an illusion, kind of like citing losses due to shorting a stock, but you don't report those actually buying the stock.
During some of my work with local banks I asked how they can keep going after the young people with these cash cards (i.e. the TV commercials showing how to get fast money from the ATM for your hot date). The answer is simple: the parents, and the extended family, will pay up, and after the interest has built up, with some penalty, this cash flow is significant.
Thanks for the comments, Clyde
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