Users of different electronic payment services, such as those by Jkopay Co (街口支付) and Line Pay Money, would from next quarter be able to transfer money across systems via a new platform, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Thursday.
The commission announced that amendments to the Act Governing Electronic Payment Institutions (電子支付機構管理條例) are to take effect from July 1, allowing money transfers across different e-payment providers.
The commission has assigned the Financial Information Service Co (財金公司) to set up a virtual platform to enable the transfer, with state-run Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行) assigned to address the flow of funds between different e-payment companies, it said.
All users of the nation’s 28 e-payment companies and holders of stored-value cards issued by the local five electronic ticket companies, such as EasyCard Corp (悠遊卡) and iPass Corp (一卡通), would be able to transfer money to each other via the platform, Banking Bureau Chief Secretary Phil Tong (童政彰) told a news conference.
As of the end of March, the 28 e-payment companies had 12.82 million users, with payments and transfers at the 28 firms totaling NT$29 billion (US$1.04 billion) in the first quarter, while 13.48 million stored-valued cards had been activated, with spending totaling NT$19.5 million last quarter, the commission’s data showed.
The amendments would also enable users to buy foreign currencies from e-payment companies, and users can store the foreign currencies in their virtual accounts to pay for e-commerce transactions overseas, Tong said.
Users’ accounts would be divided into three groups based on how strict their e-payment providers conduct customer identification, Tong said.
Those in the first group, which applies the strictest standards, such as in-person identification, would be able to store up to NT$100,000 in their accounts, while the cap for the second group would be NT$50,000 and NT$10,000 for the third group, Tong said.
The commission also announced that it would allow more companies to offer remittance services for migrant workers after EMQ Taiwan (易安聯) and Welldone Co (統振) started providing the service in the commission’s fintech regulatory sandbox, he said.
Companies can apply to the commission to offer the service and, if approved, would receive a three-year operating license.
They would need a minimum paid-in capital of NT$100 million, which is lower than the capital requirement of NT$500 million for regular e-payment companies, Tong said.
The limit on remittance would be set at NT$30,000 per transfer, NT$50,000 per month and NT$400,000 per year.
The commission would ask the companies to place the money collected from migrant workers in escrow or hold the money in trust to safeguard workers’ interests, Tong said.
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