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.
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
US sports leagues rushed to get in on the multi-billion US dollar bonanza of legalized betting, but the arrest of an National Basketball Association (NBA) coach and player in two sprawling US federal investigations show the potential cost of partnering with the gambling industry. Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and an NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested for his alleged role in rigged illegal poker games that prosecutors say were tied to Mafia crime families. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was charged with manipulating his play for the benefit of bettors and former NBA player and
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