Motorists will be able to pay for gasoline with a credit card at CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) gas stations only until Aug. 27, the state-run oil refiner said yesterday as it continued its search for a new credit card processing service provider.
The local media reported yesterday that CPC had decided not to renew its contract with Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀行) to handle credit card transactions at its gas stations.
When asked about the situation at a legislative hearing, company executives said the contract could be extended for three months to Aug. 27, but no arrangement had been made after that date.
Finding a service provider is of some urgency, as 40 percent of the company’s sales come from credit card transactions.
“We are trying our best to negotiate with banks in Taiwan to solve the problem,” CPC chairman Chu Shao-hua (朱少華) said at the legislative session.
Since 2008, CPC has renewed its contract with Chinatrust through private negotiations, but last year decided to throw the contract open to public tender in accordance with the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法). Five tenders since then have failed to find a bidder.
CPC president Lin Maw-wen (林茂文) said the potential loss of credit card payment facilities would have a “very big impact” on the company, which receives NT$4.5 billion (US$153 million) per month through credit card transactions.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥), who supervises the state-run company, said at the hearing: “We cannot allow such a situation.”
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