萬國法律事務所

　　In order to encourage foreigners to invest in Taiwan, the Central Bank and the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) recently announced that Taiwan’s financial institutions would be permitted to provide New Taiwan dollar loans to foreigners who are not domiciled in Taiwan. This new policy will begin after the Bankers Association of the ROC puts into effect the relevant rules.  The Central Bank estimates that the new loan business could be worth as much as US$40 billion (equal to about NT$1.3 trillion).  These figures were based on the approximately US$130 billion of capital that foreigners have remitted into Taiwan so far.

　　"Foreigners who are not domiciled in Taiwan” means foreign natural persons, including overseas Chinese, who do not possess Alien Resident Certificates, and foreign juridical persons that have not registered and obtained licenses in Taiwan.  Foreign natural persons will be required to apply for the loans in person.  Foreign juridical persons may have their Taiwan agents or representatives apply for them.

　　The FSC noted that this relaxation followed the opening of provisional NT dollar financing for foreign natural and juridical persons without Taiwan domiciles who invest in domestic securities. In the future, foreigners will be able to apply directly to domestic banks for loans for investment in securities, real estate, long-term equity, and other purposes approved by the Central Bank and the FSC. This will have the effect of reducing their remittance risk and risk hedging cost. In addition to banks, this lending will also be opened to the credit departments of farmers’ and fishermen’s associations as well as credit cooperatives.