A direct bank holds a full banking license but operates with no physical branch at all, unlike a traditional bank's mobile app, which still sits on top of an extensive branch networkCITE:E1. By definition, every service is delivered through mobile devices and the internet from the start, with no branch ever builtCITE:E1.
Direct banks compete on low operating costs and digital experience rather than a branch networkCITE:E5. Because they carry no branch rent and no large teller staff, they cannot rely on over-the-counter business, so profitability depends entirely on reaching enough scale to spread technology and marketing spendingCITE:E5.
Taiwan has three direct banks — LINE Bank, Next Bank (將來), and Rakuten International Commercial Bank — and their user bases diverge sharplyCITE:E2. LINE Bank is led by Naver/LINE, Next Bank is led by Chunghwa Telecom, and Rakuten International Commercial Bank is owned 51% by Rakuten and 49% by IBF (國票)CITE:E2.
| Bank | Backing | Accounts | Profit Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| LINE Bank | Naver/LINE-led | ~2.41 million | Profitable every month since Dec 2025 (7 consecutive months) |
| Next Bank (將來) | Chunghwa Telecom-led | ~630,000 | Accumulated losses widened to NT$2.698 billion |
| Rakuten International Commercial Bank | Rakuten 51% / IBF (國票) 49% | ~350,000 | Narrowing losses driven by capital reduction/increase accounting, not operating profit |
LINE Bank counted about 2.41 million accounts, far ahead of Next Bank's roughly 630,000 and Rakuten's 350,000CITE:E4. Because direct banks have no branches, customer acquisition depends heavily on the parent group's ecosystem trafficCITE:E4.
Only LINE Bank has turned its operations profitable among Taiwan's three direct banksCITE:E3. LINE Bank posted a monthly profit for seven consecutive months starting December 2025CITE:E3. Next Bank's accumulated losses widened to NT$2.698 billion over the same periodCITE:E3. Rakuten's shrinking losses stemmed mainly from capital reduction and capital increase accounting write-offs, not from operating profitCITE:E3.
Reaching a sufficient deposit-and-loan scale is the core threshold that determines whether a direct bank can turn profitableCITE:E6. Direct banks require heavy upfront investment in technology and customer acquisition and typically post losses for years before scale allows profitabilityCITE:E6. The divergence among Taiwan's three direct banks shows that holding a banking license alone does not guarantee a path to profitCITE:E6.
LINE Bank's 2.41 million accounts — by far the largest of the three — line up with it being the only one of Taiwan's three direct banks profitable for seven straight months since December 2025CITE:E3CITE:E4. Next Bank's smaller base of roughly 630,000 accounts corresponds to its accumulated losses widening to NT$2.698 billion, while Rakuten's 350,000-account base shows losses narrowing only through capital reduction/increase accounting adjustments rather than operating gainsCITE:E3CITE:E4. Read together, the account-scale gap and the profitability gap move in the same direction, consistent with the scale-threshold logic that separates which direct banks can and cannot turn profitableCITE:E6.
A direct bank holds a full banking license but operates with no physical branch at all, unlike a traditional bank's mobile app, which still sits on top of an ex…
Direct banks compete on low operating costs and digital experience rather than a branch networkCITE:E5.
Taiwan has three direct banks — LINE Bank, Next Bank (將來), and Rakuten International Commercial Bank — and their user bases diverge sharplyCITE:E2.
Only LINE Bank has turned its operations profitable among Taiwan's three direct banksCITE:E3.
The number that matters most here is the account gap: LINE Bank's 2.41 million accounts versus Next Bank's 630,000 and Rakuten's 350,000, and it tracks almost exactly with who is profitable. LINE Bank's seven consecutive profitable months since December 2025 look like a direct payoff of scale, not a one-off; Next Bank's widening NT$2.698 billion accumulated loss suggests its ecosystem-driven customer acquisition hasn't yet reached that threshold. Rakuten's case is the one worth watching most closely: its loss narrowed, but that came from capital reduction/increase accounting rather than operating profit, so the real signal to track next is whether Rakuten's account growth and operating numbers — not just its balance-sheet cleanup — start moving the way LINE Bank's did.
SK Hynix (SK海力士) is planning a ₩10 trillion plant investment in Japan, a move that coincided with gains in two Japan-focused semiconductor ETFs. The plan follows a first half of 2025 in which the company posted ₩39.87 trillion in revenue, ₩15.10 trillion in net profit, and a debt-to-equity ratio that fell to 48.13% from 62.15% at the end of 2024.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is pushing a new round of semiconductor tariffs that would tie tariff-free import quotas to how much chip manufacturing a company commits to build inside the United States, a design that could extend duties beyond the advanced processors already taxed since January 2026 to AI servers, laptops and gaming consoles.
Taiwan's benchmark TAIEX closed at 46,331.45 points on August 28, up 356.23 points and above the 46,000 threshold, on turnover of roughly NT$1.023 trillion. TSMC rose NT$10 to NT$2,420, and 36 listed stocks hit their daily limit after NVIDIA's earnings beat lifted sentiment at the open.