Jkos Pay (街口支付) is aiming to outperform its rivals in the mobile payments market by partnering with Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) to launch its first co-branded credit card, which would give cardholders six Jkos tokens for every NT$100 spent.
With each Jkos token equivalent to NT$1, the credit card offers the best reward program on the market, the subsidiary of Jkos Network Co (街口網絡) said in a statement yesterday.
Cardholders earn one-and-a-half Jkos tokens for every NT$100 spent if they pay with the credit cards, but if they pay with the Jkos app after linking the card to their account, they earn six Jkos tokens for every NT$100 spent, the company said.
Cardholders can earn eight Jkos tokens for every NT$100 spent in 15 designated outlets that include two supermarket chains, two taxi operators, the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, department stores and restaurants, it said.
By comparison, Line Pay Co (連加網路), which has cooperated with CTBC Bank (中信銀行) to offer co-branded Line Pay credit cards, offers fewer rewards, with cardholders gaining up to four credit points for every NT$100 spent in non-designated stores, according to the two companies.
It is the first time that Jkos has issued a credit card after partnering with 18 local banks to enable their clients to link their credit cards with their Jkos accounts.
“There are still many Taiwanese customers in the habit of using credit cards, which still play an important role in the payment system. We hope to make Jkos Pay a more convenient tool by launching this new card,” Jkos Network founder and chief operating officer Kevin Hu (胡亦嘉) said in a statement.
The rewards program runs until March next year, Jkos Network communications officer Audrey Chih (遲惠文) told the Taipei Times by telephone, without confirming if the plan might change at that time.
Jkos last month posted NT$1.02 billion (US$33.4 million) of transactions, the highest among the nation’s six electric payment firms, while transfers between users totaled NT$585 million, Financial Supervisory Commission data showed.
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