Line Pay Taiwan Ltd (連加網路商業) yesterday reported that the number of transactions and the total value of transactions each rose 70 percent year-on-year to 160 million and NT$74.6 billion (US$2.47 billion) respectively in the first half of this year.
The number of transactions included those from the company’s mobile payment product Line Pay, which links customers’ credit cards with the electronic payment service, and its iPass Money service, which connects with customers’ bank accounts.
Line Pay did not disclose a breakdown of the transactions differentiating the two products, both of which can be accessed through the messaging app of its affiliate Line
Web-only Line Bank Taiwan Ltd (連線商業銀行) yesterday said that its client base had reached 1.1 million people as of the end of last month, adding that it aims to expand its client base this year by offering more products and services.
Another Web-only bank, Rakuten International Commercial Bank Co (樂天國際銀行), had 840,000 clients as of the end of last year, while Next Commercial Bank Co (將來商業銀行), the nation’s third Web-only bank, began operations last month.
As Line Bank is to enter its second year of operations, it would no longer prioritize obtaining new clients, but would focus on serving and retaining them,
The 4.55 million users of iPass Money the nation’s second-largest electronic payment service, which was previously called Line Pay Money found the service more inconvenient to use after iPass Corp (一卡通票證) and Line Pay Taiwan (連加網路商業) separated.
The service was initially a collaboration of the two companies, but it has been solely operated by iPass since Line Pay sold its stake in the service and walked out of the iPass boardroom in November last year, data from the companies showed.
However, iPass, a Kaohsiung-based stored-value card company, does not have an independent payment app for users, so the users
Line Bank Taiwan Ltd (連線商業銀行), the nation’s second Web-only bank, launched on Thursday, but promptly drew a rebuke from the regulator after its system crashed.
The virtual bank launched its banking service, integrated into the messaging app Line offered by its affiliate Line Taiwan Ltd (台灣連線), at about 5pm on Thursday, but users said they could not access the service.
People who clicked on its Web page were greeted by either a blank page or a “server is busy” message.
That was contrary to the bank’s claims that people would be able to open an account within six minutes and its promise
Line Bank eyes mid-March pilot run
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
The Web-only Line Bank Taiwan Ltd (連線商業銀行), granted an operating license by the Financial Supervisory Commission on Thursday, aims to conduct a pilot run in six weeks.
Line Bank is the second virtual bank to gain a license from the regulator after Rakuten International Commercial Bank (樂天國際商銀) received one on Dec. 8 last year.
Prior to its pilot run, Line Bank must connect its information system to the central bank and the Central Deposit Insurance Corp (中央存保), and sign a contract with Visa Taiwan Co (台灣威士卡), Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) said.
Line Bank Taiwan Ltd general manager Morris Huang poses at a Line booth in an undated photograph. The Web-only bank was granted an operating license by the Financial Supervisory Commission on Thursday, and it plans to conduct a pilot run in six weeks.