text: Taiwan 's Cooperative Bank cuts prime lending rate . TAIPEI 1996-08-27 Cooperative Bank of Taiwan , one of the island 's leading state-run banks , said it was cutting its prime lending rate by 0.05 percentage point , effective on Tuesday . The bank said in a statement it was cutting its prime lending rate to 7.35 percent from 7.40 percent . It also would cut its three-month-to-three-year time deposit rates by between 0.05 and 0.10 percentage points . The moves made Cooperative the first major bank to cut rates in response to a call on Friday from central bank governor Sheu Yuan-dong . In the central bank 's latest bid to jumpstart Taiwan 's sluggish economy , Sheu ordered a reduction of up to a half-percentage point in banks ' reserve requirements and called on commercial banks to pass on the savings in the form of interest rate reductions . -- Taipei Newsroom ( 5080815 )