Standard Chartered Taiwan to inject $16.2m in upcoming web-only Line Bank

Line Bank will compete with web-only bank hopefuls as only two licences will be granted by Taiwan.

Standard Chartered Taiwan revealed that it will invest $16.2m (NT$500m) in a 5% stake in Line Bank, an upcoming web-only bank by Line Financial Taiwan, reports Taipei Times.

Line Bank will go head-to-head with Chunghwa Telecom’s Next Bank and another team led by Waterland Financials as only two licences will be granted for virtual banks in Taiwan.

“The massive volume of Line users will be our biggest strong point, as every Taiwanese uses Line to communicate and connect with others nowadays,” StanChart Taiwan CEO Anthony Lin said in a media briefing, noting that the bank is also aiming for a licence to launch an online-only retail bank in Hong Kong.

Although Taiwanese are used to withdrawing money from ATMs, Lin believes Line Bank could win them over through convenient electronic payment promotions.

“Taiwanese do not go to the branches as often as before, so we do not think they would have much difficulty adapting to the virtual banks,” Lin explained.