The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said that it has a cautious attitude toward allowing the Apple Pay mobile payment system to operate in Taiwan.
The commission said that it would map out comprehensive measures to counter possible side effects from Apple Pay before issuing a green light for the payment system to serve local consumers.
The commission made the comments after local media reported that the central bank is hoping that the commission will postpone a plan to allow Apple Pay to come to Taiwan, citing various reasons, including fear of leaks of personal information through the use of the payment system.
Apple Pay is a digital wallet service launched by Apple Inc in September 2014. The payment system allows mobile devices to make payments at contactless points of sale and in iOS apps.
Apple Pay has been permitted for use in the US, Australia, the UK, Canada and China. In the Chinese market, Apple Pay is working with China UnionPay Co (中國銀聯), the largest credit card issuer there, to reach as many users as possible.
Apple Pay is expected to launch in Hong Kong and Spain soon.
In Taiwan, banks said that they would be happy to have the payment system in place, since the device is expected to help the local banking sector to boost business.
However, local media cited the central bank as saying that Apple Pay could raise operating costs for banks, while it would not be easy for local authorities to collect taxes from payments made through the system.
According to reports, the central bank has said that locally developed mobile payment systems appear to be more efficient than Apple Pay, so it has urged the commission to postpone granting permission for Apple Pay to enter Taiwan.
However, the central bank on Friday said that while the bank has made suggestions to the FSC based on studies of Apple Pay’s potential operations in Taiwan, it has not asked the commission to postpone a decision to allow Apple Pay to do business here.
The central bank said in a statement that it does not have the authority to issue permission to Apple Pay and is not in a position to ask the commission to postpone its decision.
The FSC said that it would carefully consider the suggestions made by the central bank and figure out supplementary measures to make sure the presence of Apple Pay does not have a negative effect on the local financial market.
The commission said that it has scheduled a meeting for next week to meet representatives from the central bank, credit card issuers and banks to discuss the matter.
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