Public confidence in Taiwan financial services rises to 64.1%: Survey

About 64.1 percent of respondents expressed confidence in using financial products and services, while university students increasingly viewed investing as a way to save money or hedge against inflation, a survey released yesterday by the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF) showed.

The biennial survey combined a quantitative survey of public financial behavior with in-depth interviews exploring how university students approach investing, the TABF said in a news conference in Taipei.

The survey found that public confidence in financial products and services rose from 38.9 percent in 2024 to 64.1 percent this year. It also showed that 86.5 percent of respondents could comfortably cover their daily household expenses, while 51.6 percent had enough savings to cover at least six months of basic living costs in an emergency.

Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance chairman Paul Lei speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: CNA

The improvement in public confidence came amid growing demand for artificial intelligence, record highs on Taiwan’s stock market and high real GDP growth, TABF chairman Paul Lei (雷仲達) said.

On financial risks, the survey found that 72 percent of respondents would turn to personal savings, family or friends for financial support in an emergency, down from about 80 percent in previous surveys. Meanwhile, more respondents said they would sell stocks or mutual funds, borrow against insurance policies or take out bank loans, with the rates rising by 3.8, 5.2 and 10.6 percentage points, respectively.

The findings suggested that people are becoming less cautious about the risks of stock investment and increasingly view stocks as a stable source of income, TABF management team member Cheng Han (鄭翰) said.

He advised people to maintain sufficient cash savings to cover three to six months of living expenses, warning that market volatility or a downturn could force investors to sell stocks at low prices and incur losses.

The survey also found that public confidence in avoiding financial scams rose from 65.7 percent in 2024 to 73.8 percent this year. However, people aged 70 and older remained particularly vulnerable, with lower confidence in using financial services and lower rates of electronic payment use age than other age groups.

Regarding younger people, Cheng said many university students are motivated to invest by concerns that inflation will erode the value of their bank savings, while family, friends and online platforms helped shape their investment habits and confidence.

The survey also cautioned that while fractional-share trading has lowered the barrier to investing, it could encourage young people with limited capital to invest in high-risk products. Those with a financial safety net may be able to continue investing after losses, while those without such support could be forced out of the market, it said.

Conducted every two years since 2020, this year’s survey included 1,070 people aged 18 and older across Taiwan, undertaken by phone using landlines and mobile phones. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

The qualitative research component by Chang Chih-yao (張志堯), head of Shih Hsin University’s Department of Social Psychology, involved in-depth interviews with 36 university students aged 19-26 who had actual investment experience.