Banks have been approved to start offering electronic stored-value card payment processing services at authorized stores to make it easier for foreign tourists to make electronic micropayments, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said.
As the use of electronic stored-value cards among visitors to Taiwan rises, operators must expand the number of authorized stores that are compatible with them, Jean Chiu (邱淑貞), deputy director general of the commission’s Banking Bureau, said at a press conference.
Compared with credit-card issuing banks, many smaller-scaled electronic stored-value card issuers find it harder to sign on more authorized stores because of their lack of expertise and resources, Chiu said.
Approval for banks to operate stored-value cards will greatly accelerate the initiative, given their expertise in payment processing, she said.
Banks taking part in the initiative will be tasked with promoting the system, auditing prospective vendors and stores, and overseeing the testing, installation and maintenance of electronic stored-value cards’ back-end systems, the commission said.
The system is ideal for purchasing gifts at stores near popular tourist attractions and night markets, where visitors often face long lines as vendors process cumbersome cash transactions, the commission said.
Electronic stored-value card issuers can cut costs through the help of banks, while banks gain the scale required for improved operating efficiency, it said.
The system will also enable new varieties of promotional and discount programs for shoppers that may boost overall tourism revenue, it said.
Meanwhile, working in conjunction with the central bank, which on May 22 approved a proposal to allow banks to issue negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs), the commission yesterday announced that it has completed a related draft amendment to allow bills finance companies to issue the instrument.
The draft act would allow banks and bills finance companies to issue NCDs with minimum face values of 100,000 euros (US$109,800), 50,000 yuan (US$8,054) and ¥1 million (US$8,068).
The commission said that NCDs are a highly liquid short-term instrument, and their relatively low face value make them accessible to most of the investing public, making them a valuable tool for expanding market participation and an important avenue for banks wishing to gain access to foreign currencies.
However, due to NCDs’ shorter maturity and high liquidity, they do not yield as much interest return as other instruments, the commission said.
About NT$2 trillion worth of NCDs are in circulation in the nation’s capital market, it said.
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