Visa Taiwan Co (台灣威士卡) is to focus on providing new cross-border payment solutions, issuing debit cards for young people and collaborating with the cryptocurrency sector to boost its competitiveness, general manager Michelle Jao (趙麗芳) said yesterday.
As parent Visa Inc has launched a business-to-business (B2B) payment solution Visa B2B Connect to facilitate quick cross-border payments using blockchain technology, Visa Taiwan has applied with the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to introduce the service to local businesses, Jao told a media briefing in Taipei.
The service, which the commission is reviewing, is available in more than 100 countries, she said.
The company plans
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.
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.
‘Cash no longer king’ in Taiwan: credit card survey
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
Credit and debit cards have replaced cash as the most common payment method in Taiwan, Visa Taiwan Co (台灣威士卡) said in a report on Thursday last week.
A survey of 800 people conducted in August last year showed that about 80 percent of respondents used credit cards daily, while about 77 percent used cash and 58 percent used stored-value cards, such as EasyCards and iPass cards, Visa Taiwan said.
A 2019 study showed that cash was the most popular payment method in the nation, with 91 percent of respondents using cash daily and 83 percent using credit and debit cards, it said.