Local merchants are to be able to receive cash advances from certified institutions for sales to Chinese tourists that were paid via mobile payment services, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
The commission said it eased guidelines on cross-border electronic payments and the change is expected to be implemented before the end of this month.
Currently, merchants are required to meet certain conditions before they can receive payments for goods and services sold to Chinese tourists, such as a set amount of accumulated receivables, typically about US$5,000, or have the receivables cleared within a set time frame, such as a month.
Due to the time lag, merchants’ flexibility in operating capital allocation and short-term financial conditions has been constrained by these hurdles, the commission said.
The revised guidelines now allow merchants to arrange cash advance terms with certified third-party payment services providers and financial institutions, the commission said.
Previously, when Chinese tourists paid for goods and services with Alipay (支付寶), China’s biggest third-party payments system, Alipay first converted the amount into US dollars, then submitted the sum to local merchants via their partnering institutions.
Following the change, local third-party payment service providers such as Allpay Financial Information Service Co Ltd (歐付寶) as well as certified banks such as E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) can provide cash advance payments to merchants to avoid the time lag, the commission said.
The limit on cash advances is set at no more than NT$10 million (US$305,623) every 15-day period, the commission said, adding that the measure is expected to attract more participating merchants.
Commission data showed that 13 institutions might take advantage of the change — two electronic commerce operators AllPay and Neweb Technologies Co Ltd (藍新科技) and 11 certified banks.
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