Taiwan banks going bilingual ahead of schedule

Описание: The Financial Supervisory Commission is working to make all banks bilingual. By 2030, all Taiwan bank branches will be required to offer financial services not just in Chinese but in English as well, to meet the needs of a growing foreign clientele. Formosa News reporter Stephany Yang reports from a bank branch that''s already made the switch.

Stephany Yang
Formosa News reporter
As part of a plan to make Taiwan a bilingual country by 2030, many Taiwanese banks are starting to launch bilingual services.

Last Friday, top officials inspected bank branches of CTBC and First Bank that have gone bilingual ahead of the deadline.

Huang Tien-mu
FSC chairman
Currently there are 23 banks expressed their attention to set bilingual branches. There are currently 17 banks already set bilingual branch. We expect that another six banks will also set bilingual branches. The goal is set year on the year 2030, but I believe we will achieve that goal earlier, even maybe two or three years before. The reason why is that we are more internationalized and more foreigners want to visit or stay in Taiwan. There are an emerging needs for local banks to meet the needs for these foreign customers.

At this First Bank counter, a teller communicates with customers in fluent English, assisting with a range of transactions. First Bank has established English consultation counters at the general service counters and foreign exchange counters.

Mike Parsons
Customer
It was really nice. I was really glad to know that they have a multi-language service. I was able to communicate with them. It helped me a lot because I always had trouble speaking Chinese, so big relief.

Many of First Bank employees have a good level of English literacy. Some immigrated to Taiwan from overseas.

Employee
Cindy Chen
I grew up in Canada. For university I studied science and chemistry. For master’s, I came back to Taiwan and I studied international business. I applied to First Bank and got admitted. To get into First Bank, there are basic English requirements like TOIEC score has to be over a certain number.

Cheng Mei-ling
First Bank general manager
We have already had six bilingual branches that were set up last year. This year, we are going to have another six bilingual branches. Hopefully we going to have in total 188 branches that our domestic branches become bilingual.

At CTBC Bank, bilingual banking services are not only limited to the counter. Bilingual service is also available at the bank’s ATMs and mobile phone app. CTBC says it’s working to have bilingual staff at every branch by 2030.

Li Ming-hsien
CTBC CEO
We currently have three model bilingual banks, one each in northern, central, and southern Taiwan. ATM cards from anywhere in the world can be used at CTBC ATMs, which can provide services in foreign languages.

According to the FSC, 17 financial institutions have already set up at least one bilingual branch, while progress is underway at six others.