Sinopac Bank published an updated benefits sheet for its FUNNOW co-branded credit card, capping monthly dining cashback at NT$300 and reducing limited-time multipliers at partner restaurants beginning with October billing cycles. The change, posted to the bank’s cardholder portal Friday, follows a surge in redemption costs after Mid-Autumn holiday dining bookings spiked on the FUNNOW reservation app.
What cardholders lose and keep
The base 3 percent cashback on FUNNOW bookings remains, but the extra 2 percent weekend booster now applies only twice per month instead of unlimited use. General dining outside the app still earns 1 percent, unchanged from prior terms. Airport lounge passes tied to the card are not affected, the bank emphasized in a footnote aimed at travel-heavy users.
Why the bank moved
Issuer presentations to merchants, summarized in regulatory filings, show FUNNOW redemptions rose 34 percent year over year in September as Taipei households returned from holiday travel. Sinopac pays FUNNOW a referral fee on each booked table; richer cashback was funded partly from marketing budgets that the bank now wants aligned with net interest margin targets. Competitors Cathay United Bank and CTBC have kept unlimited dining caps on select products, though with higher annual fees.
Merchant reaction
Restaurant operators on FUNNOW worry smaller cashback pools could push diners toward competing apps tied to other banks. A Shilin night-market vendor said October weekday lunch traffic already looks softer after consumers front-loaded holiday spending. Sinopac plans a November marketing week with fixed NT$50 statement credits to offset perception of stingier rewards.
Regulatory lens
The Financial Supervisory Commission does not approve individual reward tweaks, but examiners have urged banks to model redemption stress when co-branding with high-growth platforms. Sinopac’s risk disclosure for the FUNNOW card now includes a scenario where cashback costs exceed 40 basis points of outstanding balances, triggering automatic cap reviews.
Practical guidance
Cardholders who stacked weekend boosters for group dinners should switch remaining October reservations to the two eligible weekends listed in the portal. Corporate cards enrolled in the same program receive a separate NT$500 cap with itemized reporting for finance departments. Users can export October accruals as CSV files starting Oct. 12, a feature Sinopac added after small-business owners complained about manual expense tracking.
Broader market
Taiwan issuers are recalibrating lifestyle rewards as interchange revenue faces pressure from mobile-wallet routing. Sinopac’s move may be copied if FUNNOW rivals see similar redemption spikes during year-end parties. For now, the NT$300 ceiling makes the card better suited to occasional diners than the power users who drove September’s cost spike.