PX Mart Co (全聯) and Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) yesterday gained Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) approval to provide electronic payment services through subsidiaries, the FSC said yesterday.
PXPay Co Ltd (全支付) and All Win Co Ltd (全盈支付金融科技), which is 67 percent owned by Taiwan FamilyMart, 18 percent owned by E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) and 15 percent owned by Pi Mobile Technology Inc (拍付國際), were granted approval to establish the services, the commission said.
The two firms fulfilled the requirements, including at least NT$500 million (US$17.86 million) in paid-in capital, and would be allowed to offer a payment tool, as well as to take deposits from service users and offer fund transfers between them, the commission said.
Photo: Yang Ya-min, Taipei Times
However, licenses for additional services, such as foreign currency accounts and vouchers, would require additional applications, the commission said.
Twenty-eight companies offer e-payment services in Taiwan, with 13 million users as of the end of April, FSC data showed.
The addition of PxPay and All Win would intensify competition in the sector, as their parent companies have a large customer base, the commission said.
PxPay has 7 million members, while 13 million Taiwanese have a FamilyMart membership, it added.
The commission has asked the two companies to define stable and solid marketing and pricing strategies, Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Huang Kuang-hsi (黃光熙) told a videoconference, adding that curbs are in place to prevent players in the sector from engaging in price wars.
Asked if the two e-payment provider could offer exclusive rewards for customers at their parent companies, Huang said that the FSC would decide on a case-by-case basis whether this would have an adverse effect on market discipline.
In related news, a MasterCard Taiwan (萬事達) survey found that more than 75 percent of respondents used mobile payment tools more often than they did before a surge of COVID-19 cases last month.
Half of the respondents used the tools every day, up 30 percentage points from before the outbreak, the company said.
Forty-five percent said they preferred mobile payment tools as they were safer than cash amid the COVID-19 outbreak, while 70 percent said they were attracted by rewards offered through the platforms and 60 percent said that they wanted to save time, the survey showed.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
PLANS: MSI is also planning to upgrade its service center in the Netherlands Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星) yesterday said it plans to set up a server assembly line at its Poland service center this year at the earliest. The computer and peripherals manufacturer expects that the new server assembly line would shorten transportation times in shipments to European countries, a company spokesperson told the Taipei Times by telephone. MSI manufactures motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, servers, optical storage devices and communication devices. The company operates plants in Taiwan and China, and runs a global network of service centers. The company is also considering upgrading its service center in the Netherlands into a
RSS