The Taiwan Banker

Taiwan has over 600,000 new residents by marriage, as well as 800,000 migrant workers, both of which are becoming important parts of society. The public sector and financial industry can help these new residents to obtain responsible and sustainable financial services so that they can overcome the foreign language barrier, culture gaps, and lack of financial knowledge, and securely put down roots. Scam solicitations have become commonplace, making fraud prevention an important part of financial inclusion. According to the Ministry of the Interior’s Police Department 165 Fraud Dashboard statistics, last December, property losses from fraud reached NT$ 12,435,433,000 in Taiwan, with 17,766 cases reported. In January, the property loss dropped to NT$ 9,545,629,000, with 13,120 cases, perhaps due to the New Year’s holiday, but these amounts still are quite substantial. Fraud does not discriminate by nationality; despite all the news reports of nationals being victimized, migrant residents have also become targets. During the 113th Taipei New Resident Care Network Conference, Cheng Bien-Mien, Commissioner of the Taipei Chapter of the Legal Aid Foundation, said that due to their unfamiliarity with the law, many migrants have been turned into accomplices to fraud, risking legal repercussions. Intending to help their fellow countrymen, they may become involved in transfer of bank accounts, fraud, and money laundering. As a result, their bank accounts can be frozen, which can also affect their residency. In addition to being unfamiliar with regulations, or thinking that transfer of control over bank accounts is a form of assistance, a migrant from Vietnam shared that they had received calls from fake government agencies requesting payment for documents, and were almost scammed before realizing what they were getting into. An Indonesian recounted receiving text messages from fake banks requesting them to update their information by clicking on a link, and being unsure if they were real. Later, they learned that they could call their bank first. Migrant workers often face communication barriers due to linguistic and cultural differences from their hometowns and villages. As mentioned above, it is not easy for them to acquire financial knowledge, and it is difficult for them to recognize fake information from the government and financial institutions, so friendly financial services are an urgent matter for them. Financial sector participants are increasingly offering services to actively address the needs of migrants, helping support the government’s anti-fraud campaigns. For example, the Central Deposit Insurance Corporation launched a deposit insurance awareness campaign for migrants to improve their financial literacy, and held several physical deposit insurance financial education workshops and 10 online workshops in Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Keelung, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, introducing topics such as financial management and deposit insurance in an easily-understood manner, and answering questions about deposit security. KGI Life became the first in the financial industry to launch an interpretation service in 9 languages, providing Chinese-speaking interpreters to help customers communicate in their mother tongues, and deploying multi-lingual tellers to provide real-time service. At the same time, financial institutions have tailor-made fraud prevention courses for migrant interpreters, strengthening their knowledge of insurance and improving the quality of translation. The courses also provide further counseling and training for interpreters interested in pursuing deeper careers in insurance, helping them to expand their employment opportunities and obtain equal pay for equal work. Nanshan Life and Taiwan Life have been cooperating with domestic migrant assistance organizations and sister’s associations to provide new services to protect the financial rights and interests of the vulnerable, including translation of insurance terminology into migrants’ native languages, clear teaching materials, and individual counseling and training. To prevent accounts from falling prey to scammers, Taichung Bank cares for and verifies migrant workers’ accounts before, while, and after account opening. For example, when they open their accounts, they ask about their personal information and employer status. To prevent their online accounts from being sold and becoming high-risk if they return to their home countries or contact is lost, meanwhile, two years ago, Taichung Bank also started regularly checking if online accounts have not been used for a certain period. If so, branches include them in their care targets. Taichung Bank said that most migrant workers in Taiwan work in caregiving and manufacturing, and employers and intermediary companies do not notify the bank in case of lost contact. Therefore, during migrant worker care, branches should not only visit their employers, but may also need to learn about their current situation through their employer or labor broker. If they have returned to their home country or broken contact, yet the branch has not closed the account, and subsequently finds that the customer has applied for inter-bank or intra-bank transfer, it proactively reduces their transaction limits, thus also reducing the risk of their accounts being resold or turned into dummy accounts – an innovative practice considered to reflect the forefront of the industry. A survey on migrant workers’ knowledge of financial management released last year by Taipei Fubon Bank showed that nearly 30% of migrant workers had been defrauded a total amount of NT$1.7 billion, highlighting migrant workers’ extremely high financial risk. That figure is quite alarming compared to their take-home salaries. The survey also found that as many as 90% of migrant workers want to learn about financial management and build a stronger financial foundation for their personal development. To this end, Fubon has launched a series of Financial Inclusion Initiatives for Migrant Workers, including an Indonesian/Chinese bilingual version of the “Your Money or Your Life” board game, allowing migrants and the elderly to work together to satisfy the financial needs and expectations of different segments of the community. Migrants have become an important part of Taiwan’s demographic structure. As fraud has become increasingly complex, financial security courses including financial planning, deposits, insurance, investment, and cross-border remittances, combining public and private resources, will help them economic integrate into the country more quickly, and avoid becoming victims of fraud and accidentally falling afoul of the law. Financial inclusion will allow migrants to feel respected and supported, further integrate them into society, increase their sense of identity, and enable them to take root and grow steadily.