EDITORIAL: Electronic payments still an outlier
The number of electronic payment users in Taiwan surpassed 10 million in August last year, and reached 11.4 million at the end of November — an increase of about 75 percent from a year earlier. The sharp increase reflects e-payment service providers’ aggressive promotion of non-cash payment methods, and shows that more people are using contactless payment amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Supervisory Commission has said.
Non-cash payment methods comprise credit and debit cards, electronic stored-value cards, electronic payments and mobile payments. While non-cash payment is becoming more popular, its penetration rate last year missed the government’s target of 52 percent, a goal it set in 2015 — when the Act Governing Electronic Payment Institutions (電子支付機構管理條例) took effect — aiming to double the rate in five years.