TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A foreign resident discovered that he was rejected for an application for Koko Bank after he discovered his status as a non-Taiwanese citizen made him ineligible to open an account, and soon realized that other Taiwanese virtual banks have the same policy.
P.J. Comfort, a 25-year-old Australian man who works as a senior high school teacher and has an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC), told Taiwan News that in July he applied for an account with Koko Bank, a Taiwanese virtual bank owned by Cathay United Bank. However, he found that he was unable to complete the registration form because he is not a Taiwanese citizen.
He reviewed the website's FAQ and saw that only Taiwanese citizens with a Taiwan ID born in the country are eligible to apply. Comfort then sent a letter on July 16 to the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to provide him with an explanation as to why he could not apply.
On Aug. 9, he received a reply from the FSC which stated that based on Item 1-3, Subparagraph 3, Article 3 of the "Principles of Governing Bank Operations of Online Application for Digital Deposit Accounts," banks shall retain a copy of the resident certificate IC card issued by the National Immigration Agency and a "personally identifiable secondary identification document" if the applicant is a foreign national.
"However, there are various types of secondary identification documents across different countries, it's difficult to verify the authenticity of the documents online. To avoid fraudulent applications and protect the rights of the customers, we do not accept online applications for Digital Deposit Accounts from foreigners for the time being."
Excerpt of letter sent by FSC on Aug. 9. (PJ Comfort image)
On Aug. 10, Comfort responded in a letter pointing out that foreign residents such as himself, who have lived in Taiwan for five years, have secondary documents from Taiwan government agencies that can be provided, such as a National Health Insurance (NHI) card and a Taiwan driver's license. He said that on Aug. 15, he received a response from the FSC that told him to refer to the explanation provided by Koko in the previous letter.
In addition, Comfort claimed that a Taiwanese friend of his, Tien Chi-li (田記禮), who is a naturalized citizen with a Taiwan ID and household registration, was also rejected by Koko because he was born overseas. Tien also plans to send letters of complaint to the FSC and NIA.
Taiwan News contacted Koko and a representative confirmed the bank has "not yet" extended its services to foreign residents. Asked if the bank, which began operations in 2019, would begin taking applications from foreign nationals, the spokesperson did not give a timeline.
Comfort said that he was also rejected by other Taiwanese virtual banks such as Line Bank, Next Bank, and Richart Bank. He said that he was trying to apply for the accounts because of their higher interest rates for savings accounts and higher number of free transactions and withdrawals per month.
Comfort claims his exclusion from the Taiwanese virtual banks is unfair, and he plans to file a formal complaint.
