The Taipei City Government and EasyCard Corp yesterday announced that users can now link their bank account to their EasyCard and set up automatic top-ups for more convenient use of the card.
Cardholders with bank accounts at 12 cooperating banks are to be offered the service, but only accounts at three banks — Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, Shin Kong Commercial Bank and Mega International Commercial Bank — can be linked during the first phase of the launch.
Cardholders with cards registered in their name can apply for the service at the banks and set up the automatic top-up function, which allows NT$500 or NT$1,000 per top-up and a maximum top-up of NT$3,000 per day.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
EasyCard chairman Kenneth Lin (林向愷) said the new service is aimed at students and other EasyCard holders without credit cards.
Each EasyCard can only be linked to one bank account and only direct relatives, spouses and legal guardians can link their bank accounts to EasyCards registered in a different name, the company said.
Overall digitization is an important policy to the city government, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said, adding that five aspects are to receive first priority in implementation: public housing, transportation, healthcare, education and finance.
“For Taipei to become a ‘smart’ financial city, an important factor is to facilitate cashless transactions, meaning that we hope coins and notes will disappear from Taipei,” he said.
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