The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday said that it has asked Financial Information Service Co Ltd (FISC, 財金公司) to set up a virtual platform to integrate all services provided by the nation’s 29 electronic payment companies.
For example, through the platform, users of Line Pay Co (連加網路) would be able to transfer funds into accounts of users at other electronic payment service companies, such as JKo Pay (街口支付), the commission said.
Currently, users can only transfer funds to accounts at the same service provider, Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Huang Kuang-hsi (黃光熙) said.
All electronic payment companies would also share their partner shops, which means that users could use Line Pay at shops that previously cooperated only with JKo Pay, Huang said, adding that the FISC would help settle the handling fees.
“The integration would make consumers more willing to use electronic payment services, as they would be able to spend conveniently in more shops,” Huang said.
Despite concerns that some companies would not want to participate in the platform and share their information with their rivals, no companies had objected to the proposal or expressed a lack of willingness to join the scheme at a meeting last week, Huang said, adding that the companies agreed that they would benefit from having more partners.
There would be a settlement institution to address the flow of funds between different electronic payment companies, he said.
How the companies share the handling fees would still need to be discussed, he added.
The platform would also enable consumers to transfer funds from their electronic payment accounts back to their bank accounts, Huang said, adding that consumers can currently only transfer money from bank accounts to virtual tools.
The commission early last month amended the Act Governing Electronic Payment Institutions (電子支付機構管理條例) to enable the implementation of the platform, Huang said.
If the Legislative Yuan passes the amendment this legislative session, the platform could be launched at the beginning of next year, he added.
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