The Taiwan Banker
Spring is just around the corner and will swiftly cast aside the lingering winter cold. By Taiwan's standards, the Year of the Dog is expected to be fairly good. We have our fingers crossed that the Taiwan economy can regain its footing, definitively shake off stagnation, and rebuild the people's confidence.
In this new year, the government is expected to focus on resolving one of Taiwan's most vexing problems: the financial difficulties young Taiwanese face, especially low salaries. We are looking forward to the Tsai administration putting forth some innovative proposals to tackle this longstanding issue.
In this issue of Taiwan Banker, we analyze the wealth management and investment behaviors of young Taiwanese in an effort to provide some valuable insights for the financial sector. Further, we interviewed a number of leaders in their respective professional fields and asked them to provide some advice about how to manage wealth well and make the right the investments, taking into consideration the low salaries of many young Taiwanese.
Millenials take a different approach to finance than their predecessors. Instead of taking out money at post offices or banks, they use ATMs in convenience stores. ATMs and kiosks in convenience stores provide banking, logistics and other services in a one-stop shop to meet millennial demand. This innovative business model is having an impact on traditional service retailers and and an even greater impact on traditional teller services in retail banks.
A recent German research report from KfW Research shows that since the turn of the century, digital finance development has caused German banks to considerably downsize. One in four German banks has closed since the year 2000, which is far more than anticipated a decade ago. Further, fintech growing fast. Insurance polices can now be purchased online, while there are an increasing number of robo-advisory wealth-management services. For millennial, these changes seem natural. Yet for the traditional financial sector, the digital finance surge is a challenge. Salary levels and jobs are both being affected, and choosing the right locations for retail branches is more important than ever.
Therefore, in this this issue we cover "new retail," the trend of total cash flow and logistics integration. Our goal is to learn how this trend is developing internationally and how it can be applied to Taiwan's situation. Further, another defining characteristic of new retail is the use of big data and artificial intelligence to predict consumer behavior, allowing brands to design highly targeted promotions. It is now easier than ever for consumers to pay for goods and services digitally, and also accumulate debt.
As digital technology changes the face of finance, we need to think of fintech as a means of boosting financial inclusion. Technological innovation in financial services should help millennial acquire assets and perform risk management, not over spend and end up in ever-greater debt.
Taiwan places its hopes for the nation's future in our young people. It is imperative that we do all that we can to help them overcome the low-salary dilemma they face so that they can afford a good quality of life, accumulate both assets and savings, and grow their wealth substantially.