The advantage is often the result of history. To meet its universal mail service obligation, the Chunghwa Post Co., Ltd. built a delivery network that spans all of Taiwan, and it is this network that the group is using today to deliver financial services. The company is relying increasingly on technology from Wincor Nixdorf.

Presence is a key success factor for all service providers. The Chunghwa Post offers that with more than 1,300 branches nationwide, ensuring 100 percent coverage. In these outlets, customers are not only able to send or fetch their mail but also manage their banking business; ATMs are now available in all branches.

But it has been a long journey from the days when the Chunghwa Post started delivering mail to the group’s move to introduce financial services. The post office was established in 1896 to provide a mail delivery service. But in the 1930s, it began to expand into financial services, including insurance in 1935 (the company is celebrating its 109th anniversary this year).