Chinese visitors are now allowed to make purchases at 368 local contracted stores with both credit and debit cards issued by China-based China UnionPay Co (中國銀聯), although the official commencement will be pushed to Monday because of the typhoon today, a Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) official said yesterday.
“Regulatory approval has been given to the application by China UnionPay and Taipei-based National Credit Card Center [NCCC, 聯合信用卡中心] to launch the card services,” FSC vice chairwoman Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠) told a media briefing.
NCCC president Felix Ong (翁光輝) said on Wednesday that Chinese tourists would be able to make purchases in Taiwan with UnionPay cards from today.
The 368 contracted stores, which accept China UnionPay cards, are mostly located at attractions most often visited by Chinese tourists, Lin Tung-liang (林棟樑), deputy director of the commission’s banking bureau, told yesterday’s media briefing, adding that there are a total of 72,000 contracted stores in Taiwan.
Citing statistics provided by the Tourism Bureau, Lin said that Chinese visitors have made 370,000 trips to Taiwan since July last year, and they spent an average of US$295 in Taiwan per person per day.
Three domestic banks — Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託銀行), Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) and Global Payment Inc’s (環匯亞太有限公司) Taipei branch, a joint venture between Global Payment and HSBC Taiwan — have applied to operate the purchases via the Chinese bank card, the commission said in a statement.
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