|
Chunghwa Post’s plans condemned
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Chunghwa Post’s proposed amendments to two important investment regulations have triggered numerous criticisms online, with netizens accusing the postal firm of tunneling the hard-earned money of Taiwanese to China.
The postal company issued a statement on Friday confirming plans to lift a ban in the Management Measures for Postal Savings Investing Bonds and Bills (郵政儲金投資債券票券管理辦法) as well as the Management Measures for Investing Beneficiary Certificate and Public Offering Stocks (郵政儲金投資受益憑證及上市(櫃)股票管理辦法) to further diversify its investments.
The Chunghwa Post said the nation has accumulated a postal savings fund of NT$5 trillion (US$162.7 billion), with a majority of postal savings account owners being lower or middle-class Taiwanese.
The company said the asset has created a financial burden with the interest it has to pay.
The company also said it is prohibited from offering loans, due to regulation restrictions, adding that the proposed amendments would give it more flexibility in the use of the fund.
The amendments would permit the postal company to invest in stocks, bonds and beneficiary certificates issued by China.
Meanwhile, the quota for remittance of the investment capital is capped at three-fifths of the postal saving department’s net value, which is about NT$60 billion.
Chunghwa Post said that the quota is lower than that set for other banks, where investment capital must not top total net value.
It added that it is unlikely that its investment in China would reach the cap and would have a stricter risk-management mechanism on investments in China.
However, netizens were unimpressed by Chunghwa Post’s guarantee. Many urged postal savings account owners to quickly withdraw funds from their accounts to avoid potential risks.
“Why can [Chunghwa Post] invest only in China? Can’t they invest in Taiwan instead?” a netizen called Meme Huang wrote.
Netizen Allen Chung said the postal savings fund should be invested mainly in domestic projects. He labeled Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) and Chunghwa Post chairman Philip Ong (翁文祺) “scum” and the “shame of National Taiwan University,” as the three graduated from the university’s political science department and jointly amended the regulations to — Chung said — take the most important funding in Taiwan to invest in China.
Netizen John Chou said the relaxation of the regulations would be a positive development, if it helps increase the value of the postal savings fund.
source: Taipei Times
|
