Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) yesterday launched a new credit card service that allows its clients to pay by smartphone, making it the first mobile point-of-sale (MPOS) provider as domestic banks seek to tap the emerging mobile payment business.
The banking subsidiary of SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) is the first lender to take advantage of the six-month pilot MPOS system.
Only about 3,000 stores now accept the MPOS credit cards issued by Bank SinoPac, data showed.
The MPOS card reader costs retailers between NT$1,000 and NT$2,000, US$33.29 and US$66.59) much lower than traditional credit card reading devices which are priced at more than NT$10,000, a competitive advantage that gives stores the incentive to own one, Bank SinoPac president Tina Chiang (江威娜) said.
All store owners need to do is plug the mPOS reader into the headphone socket in their smartphone and the transaction details are then uploaded to Bank SinoPac, Chiang said, adding that mobile payments are as safe as ordinary credit card payments since the new reader has no more access to a client’s information.
About 60,000 MPOS devices are in use in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia, according to MasterCard Inc, SinoPac Bank’s partner and the second-largest credit card network in the world.
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