on this, things are changing. Challengers are coming, the regulation changed quite a bit in the last 12-24 months. Soon you will hear. Can’t disclose much more, but things are moving. Local banks are slow to change, it is true.
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from someone working in finance: banks in tw are quite solid, much more than banks in the US, CA and EU. They are very profitable and risk-adverse, the best combination you can get for safety. And, they are loaded with cash in deposits. They are antiquate for procedures and tech, but the foundations are strong and reliable. Tbh the best bet for international banking here is HSBC, straight away (apps and website all in English, and English speaking staff at branches and over the phone). StanChart is another decent one, DBS I never liked them that much, they are expensive, but with their acquisition (soon-to-complete) of Citibank retail sector here something should change.
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Already didn’t age well. Time to close your accounts.
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What about Bank of America?
Don’t think they have retail operations in Taiwan.
And did citybank leave Tw?
I think they are switching to DBS who bought them by the end of summer
As DBS is Singaporean, no more links to the USA banks
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citibank is divesting from most APAC markets to focus on China… only HK and Singapore besides China will remain serving retail customers.
DBS bough indeed the retail banking business of citi here in TW and the final handover and switching should happen later in the summer.
Very sad to see citibank going away, they were making decent money, but priorities are others and more political apparently. Let’s hope HSBC and Standard Chartered won’t do the same, otherwise only DBS will remain as “foreign” bank with retails sector.
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HSBC is in the process of pulling out of Canada recently, and they left the USA last year. Seems the investor group ‘peaceful’ wants them to focus on China which probably to them includes Taiwan so hopefully they stick around
I disagree here. Citibank Taiwan are absolute morons, and their customer service workflow sucks. If you have a wire transfer arrive with the wrong rendering of your name it takes a complaint to the FSC to get is sent back to you.
Hopefully DBS can clean the place up.
I was eyeballing Citi way before I even thought of the dual citizenship process in 2014 when there came a time that I could switch banks, and I’ve even helped a Taiwanese startup that was expanding into the US get a Citi business account.
However, I later found out that even if you did open both a US and TW account, they don’t interconnect at all, and you’d have to wire transfer between the two accounts the same as banking with anybody else, so essentially you’re just signing up for the name and similarity in services, but not the laws, regulations, and any policies that really matter; if things did destabilize, Citi, Chase, BofA (US, especially considering if the latter 2 had a consumer banking arm in Taiwan), HSBC (UK), DBS (Singapore)… Heck, even Taiwan-based CTBC that has a few branches in cities with a significant Taiwanese population (LA, SF, NY) will also go to 
the exact same ways that your local E.Sun or Cathay would, and the US FDIC or similar won’t help one bit for TWD in Taiwan, just like how the USD in the US doesn’t matter to Taiwan.
My US and TW Citibank accounts are connected and can transfer online between the two, at least for the next two weeks until they shut down in TW.
that is also what I know, but there is a procedure to link them to be followed, it’s not automatic (also HSBC, my direct experience, u need to register the accounts at the branch first and then link them online)
Yes, you have to link them online.
You can link them online but you still need to go to branch to link them for the premier status to propagate. Really annoying.
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Yet USA had three of three of largest bank failures in history this year under Biden.
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Well, as for bank solidity, tw banks r shit for operations, but rock solid financially
I mean, if u r premier already and open the account in tw as premier, the account u get here is already premier. U need to do the account registration at the branch, but can be done when u open the account
well, DBS just called me after I applied to their World Fly card asking for my “Taiwanese Wife Guarantor”. First I’m not married, second again BS with foreigners need guarantor. Just railed the poor man’s ass on the phone and asked for a written instruction so I can use that against then with the FOI.
So no, DBS is not better than Citi (although Citi never applied for a card with them).
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hehehe I love that nonsense. They don’t even bother to check if you are married or not just assume so. The foreign banks are staffed by locals who often came from other banks so have the same mindset for policies. Do you think they will email you saying foreigners need a guarantor?
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